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.

Funny you should ask: What's the latest on the Central States matter?

I'm asked a lot of questions as mayor. Some I can answer because I know. Some I turn to ask Carmen about because she knows. And some I just don't know and I'll have to follow up on later. These "funny you should ask" posts are all about responding to some of the more common questions I'm asked.

A few weeks ago, my smiling face appeared on the front page of The Chetek Alert as Carl was running a follow-up article on the Central States Pension plan. He sent me an email and I responded with an email forgetting that I had not yet informed the guys about the latest development with our negotiations with Central States. It was unfair to them to read all about a matter that they have such a vested interest in at the same time everyone else was. For that, I'm sorry and going forward will try to do better at keeping them in the loop.

“So what's the latest on the Central States' matter?”

When I ran for mayor, I ran on no issue whatsoever. I was just willing to serve if the citizens were willing to have me. Never did I anticipate that during my first year in office I would be involved in a financial scramble for a lifeboat. Central States, the pension plan of our public works employees, is going under. By all accounts they are presently $28 billion insolvent (that's billion with a “b”). Some of it has to do with factors that are out of their control. In 1980, for every five guys coming to work, one guy was retiring. Nearly forty years later, that figure is exactly reversed: for every five guys retiring, only one is signing on. Add in the fact that in the 1970s the federal government deregulated the trucking industry (the primary members of the Teamsters Union) and that because of the passage by the Wisconsin legislature of Act 10 in 2011 that removes the necessity of joining a union in various industries, now it's a matter of simple math: there are just not enough members to pay all the promised benefits. By Central States' own estimate they will be out of money less than 10 years from now. The word on the street, however, is that they will be broke long before that.

The Titanic sinking we can blame on human error. Central States' sinking
more on human greed, as if they aimed right at the iceberg.

He even speaks English
and not lawyer-ese

At the end of June, we authorized Charlie Stevens of Michael Best out of Milwaukee, our lawyer who we have been consulting with, to draft a letter informing Central States that we were done sending money down the drain. By congressional rule that decision means that the city will have to pay our fair share of the liability before we row away from a proverbial sinking Titanic. At the present time, our estimate is that we would have to pay Central States somewhere in the vicinity of $2 million dollars. However, using an accepted industry formula, Charlie is confident that ultimately we will only have to pay somewhere between $700-950 thousand. I know, that's still a lot of money. However, since July 1 we have been taking the same amount of money that we had been sending to Central States for each of our guys and have contributed it instead to their private 457 plan (which is something akin to an IRA). At least, the guys can collect on that and we are no longer flushing good money down the toilet.

If one part of the boat is sinking how can
another not sink at all? 

We heard nothing from them in July but about a month ago in late August we received a lengthy response from them that amounted to a counter-offer. Essentially it said this: “Stay in. Pay us $650,000 as if you were brand new to the plan and if we go under we won't come after you for any more. We promise.” Of course, Carmen and I had a conference call with Charlie shortly afterwards to assure us we were reading the document correctly. He generally concurred with our understanding. It was his opinion that while the city could do that if a ship is sinking and no one is coming to the rescue, do you really want to hold firm and “not give up the ship.” Well, that would be dumb. So we instructed Charlie to respond to Central States accordingly by stating in plain English, “Ah, thanks but no thanks. We want out.”

Of course, the guys' union rep got a hold of them shortly after that decision went public in the Alert and informed them that if we went forward with that decision – to sever ties with Central States - they each could stand to lose between 35-40% of their pension benefits. I emailed Charlie to get his opinion on what their union guy was telling them and the next day he responded that while Central States can do whatever they want they would be punishing their own members for something they had no say in whatsoever. After all, they did not vote to decertify from the Teamsters. The city didn't ask their opinion whether or not it was a good idea to leave the plan. In other words, it's not their fault. They are not culpable whatsoever. A bomb has gone off and they are collateral damage. So why would the Teamsters want to punish their own people for a decision they had nothing to do with? Their union rep didn't show at last week's council meeting to offer any answers to that question. In any case, according to Charlie, the fund is in such bad shape now that they will ultimately cut benefits anyway, sooner or later.

Most of us get this; those who don't might work for Central States

We're not out of the woods yet with this matter but we're slowing finding our way. Charlie has been practicing pension law for 28 years. It's all he does and by his estimate the city will be free and clear (after ponying up and paying the lump sum exit fee) by Christmas. It's a pricey "gift", as Christmas gifts go, but at least we'll be safe from the undertow that is sure to follow the sinking of one of the largest pension plans in the country.

We have some great people who work for the city.
With the exception of Dan (far right), these are some of the local faces
who will be ultimately affected by Central States' failure