Village of Elk Mound receives $20,800 transportation grant for Mound Park Drive
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Village of Elk Mound has been awarded a $20,800 transportation grant for repaving Mound Park Drive.
The grant has been awarded, and the $20,832 will be received after January 1, said Mark Levra, director of public works, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s December 20 meeting.
Although “this was not Elk Mound’s year for a grant,” Levra said, he decided to apply anyway “because if you do not ask, the answer is always no.”
Counties in Wisconsin receive a certain amount of money from the state for Local Road Improvement (LRIP) grants.
In Dunn County, half of the municipalities are eligible for the grant one year, and the other half of the municipalities are eligible the next year.
Paving streets and roads has become quite expensive, with a mile of paved road in the townships amounting to about $150,000, while the cost of a block in a village that requires the replacement of sewer and water lines, curb and gutter and repaving amounts to between $300,000 and $400,000.
Tim Benjamin, village trustee, asked if it was possible to keep patching Mound Park Drive instead of reconstructing the street.
The street is beyond being able to be adequately patched, Levra said.
Mound Park Drive is the next street listed in the village’s five-year street improvement plan, but the village can decide to do a different street and still use the grant money, he said.
The allocation of money was based on the five-year street improvement plan, Levra noted.
Mound Park Drive was last paved in 1980, so it has held up well over the past 43 years, noted Terry Stamm, village president.
DCEDC
The Dunn County Economic Development Corporation will be changing the structure of the board of directors, said Benjamin, who is the Elk Mound representative on the Dunn County Economic Development Board of Directors.
DCEDC will be expanding to include the Greater Menomonie Area Economic Development Corporation and Stout Technology, he said.
Expanding the board should result in better representation for places outside of Menomonie, Benjamin said.
Dunn County as a whole will have a better voice, and that will be a positive change, he said.
Workforce housing
One of the issues for economic development in Dunn County is workforce housing, Benjamin said.
Businesses in Menomonie need housing for their employees as a matter of economic development, he said.
Marshfield Clinic, for example, has people who work there who live in Stillwater or Hudson because they cannot find housing in Menomonie or anywhere in this area, Benjamin said.
Jim Rooney, the developer for Settlers Ridge in Elk Mound, has a window of opportunity to develop more housing in Elk Mound for workforce housing, he said, adding that he hoped the village has not given Rooney the impression that the village is not interested in further development.
During the last conversation with Rooney that included Levra and Stamm, Rooney said he would be contacting the village again after the holidays or shortly after the first of the year, Levra said.
Elk Mound must “strike while the iron is hot,” Benjamin said, and the village could be instrumental in providing workforce housing for Menomonie.
When the Settlers Ridge development is complete, the population in Elk Mound is expected to triple.
Other business
In other business, the Elk Mound Village Board:
• Approved a Tax Increment Finance District voucher in the amount of $28,898 for interest on a loan.
• Learned that the Elk Mound Lions Club has donated “Welcome to Elk Mound” signs for North and South Holly Avenue.
• Learned that Synergy Cooperative had hoped to open the convenience store in Elk Mound before Christmas but that the store will not be opening until sometime after Christmas.
• Approved a change in labor charges for the public works department fee schedule to $46.60 for labor performed by Mark Levra, and $35.96 for labor performed by Todd Steinhorst and Kevin Garnett. Other charges include, for example, $25 for a chain saw or a grass trimmer and $75 for Truck No. 1 to plow and sand. If an Elk Mound resident has tree limbs that need to be trimmed because they are hanging over a sidewalk, the resident would pay $25 for bringing the chain saw and either $46.60 per hour or $35.96 for a public works employee to operate the chainsaw to cut tree branches.
