By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board of Supervisors has approved a resolution supporting the creation of the Chippewa-St. Croix Rail Commission to bring passenger rail service to the Chippewa Valley and the St. Croix Valley.
The goal of the Chippewa-St. Croix Rail Commission is to establish commuter rail service between Eau Claire and the Twin Cities, said Paul Miller, county manager, at the Dunn County Board’s January 20 meeting.
In addition to Dunn County, St. Croix County, Chippewa County, Pierce County and Eau Claire County are being asked to approve the resolution, he said.
All together, 13 municipalities will be asked for approval. The other municipalities include the Village of Baldwin and the cities of Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Altoona, Menomonie, New Richmond, River Falls and Hudson, according to the resolution.
Approving the resolution does not obligate Dunn County to commit to any funding, Miller said.
Other groups have been working on establishing passenger rail service in West Central Wisconsin for many years, and passenger rail has been “a very long dream,” he said.
Larry Bjork, county board supervisor from Menomonie, said the passenger rail service would cover 22 to 30 miles in St. Croix County, Dunn County and Eau Claire County.
“I really don’t find it to be a dream for the communities and the people who have to live and work around high speed rail. I see it as a safety measure,” Bjork said.
Bjork noted he has four grandsons who attend school in Elk Mound, and students who live in Elk Mound south of the railroad tracks, for example, will have another hazard on their way to school with high speed rail.
Rail service will create another safety concern for Dunn County as well as the additional cost for installing more rail crossings and closing township roads, he said.
“I don’t see it as a dream. I see it as a nightmare,” Larry Bjork said, adding that the service would benefit a few people and would be a situation where a few people would “impose their will on the majority.”
Passenger rail service will probably happen even if the Dunn County Board does not approve the resolution, said Dave Bartlett, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the Dunn County Board.
If the Dunn County Board does not approve the resolution, then Dunn County “will have no representation at the table,” he said.
At this point, there is no cost except for any expenses associated with appointing someone to represent Dunn County, and if Dunn County has a representative on the Chippewa-St. Croix Rail Commission, then someone will be there to bring up the concerns of Dunn County, Bartlett said.
If no one is at the table from Dunn County, “they will do as they want,” he said.
Not high speed
Tom Quinn, county board supervisor from Downing, pointed out the proposed rail service is not high speed rail, but rather, commuter rail service that would run on existing rail lines.
The corridor between Eau Claire and Minneapolis and St. Paul has many commuters driving to work every day and is something like the fifth busiest corridor in the country or is in the top 10, he said.
Since so many people use the freeway, commuter rail could provide a benefit to people living in Dunn County, Quinn said, acknowledging that there are both positives and negatives associated with commuter rail service.
Steve Jenson, county board supervisor from Elk Mound, asked if the commuter rail service would be funded entirely by the taxpayers and whether it would generate any revenue for the county.
Expenses and revenue have not even been discussed yet because the discussion is only starting now about the passenger rail service, Bartlett said.
Approving the resolution “gives us someone at the table for the discussion,” he said.
Change is inevitable, and there are always winners and losers, said James Tripp, county board supervisor from Menomonie.
Dunn County would reap some benefits from commuter rail, and approving the resolution would put Dunn County at the table, he said.
“I hope we keep an open mind. I hope we stay in the game,” Tripp said.
10 of 13
Ten out of 13 must approve the resolution for the rail commission to be formed, but why not all 13? Larry Bjork asked.
Bartlett said he had recently attended a meeting about the rail commission but that the reason why 10 of 13 are needed to approve the resolution was not explained.
According to the resolution, the Chippewa-St. Croix Rail Commission would develop an intergovernmental agreement and by-laws to create a transportation commission to oversee the implementation, creation and continuation of passenger rail service in the Chippewa Valley and St. Croix Valley of Western Wisconsin.
“It would be foolish not to be at the table,” said Gary Stene, county board supervisor from Colfax.
Any money that would be spent on passenger rail would have to be approved by the Dunn County Board first, he said.
The Dunn County Board approved the resolution by a voice vote.
Larry Bjork voted against the motion.
Rail plans
The Wisconsin State Rail Plan and the Minnesota State Rail Plan, both federally mandated official transportation plans created by Wisconsin and Minnesota, include the Twin Cities to Eau Claire line as a planned future passenger rail route, according to background information included with the resolution.
Dunn County has previously supported and participated in efforts to expand rail service into western Wisconsin.
The West Central Rail Coalition has worked for several years to develop a public-private partnership to bring passenger rail to West Central Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Gateway Corridor Coalition was involved in the Gateway Corridor Study Alternative Analysis, which demonstrated promise for public transportation in the Eau Claire to Twin Cities corridor.
The West Central Rail Coalition, and the coalition’s Passenger Rail Organizing Council, have been working with Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the tracks, to implement passenger rail service.
Representatives for Union Pacific have indicated the company will enter into a memorandum of understanding to implement service after an engineering study of the existing Union Pacific rail line has been completed to determine the need for capacity and capital improvements, according to the background information.
The multi-jurisdictional rail commission would be independent of the counties and municipalities but would be supported by the counties and municipalities to promote independent decisions made in the best interests of the passenger rail corridor, the background information states.
Each municipality would appoint one representative to a committee to create rules and by-laws for the commission and to recommend resolutions or agreements to the participating counties and municipalities. The West Central Wisconsin Rail Coalition would have at least two members appointed to the committee to form the Chippewa-St. Croix Rail Commission.
Other business
In other business, the Dunn County Board:
• Learned that the Dunn County Health Department has received some doses of the SARS-Co-V2 vaccine.
• Learned that the county board will hold a special meeting on February 22 at 7 p.m. The virtual meeting will be with area state legislators to discuss a legislative agenda. The Dunn County Board also will meet on October 13 this year instead of the regular meeting date of October 20 because of publication requirements for notices concerning the 2022 county budget.
• Recognized the retirement of the following county employees: Barb Lande (43 years); Karl Dicks (35 years); Kelly Stark (33 years); Greg Lambert (28 years); Mark Baier (26 years); and Eric Edgeberg (26 years).
• Learned that following the retirement of Dan Prestebak, Dunn County conservationist, the position has been offered to Chase Cummings, who is currently the county conservationist in Pepin County. Cummings has accepted the position and will begin working in Dunn County January 27. Cummings is a Dunn County resident.
• Learned that Austin Witt, who previously served as operations supervisor for Dunn County Transit, has accepted the position of transit manager following the departure of Dolly Catlin.
• Learned that interviews will be conducted in the near future for the chief information officer position previously held by Eric Edgeberg.
• Approved a resolution amending the inventory of job classes to add senior accounting manager and contract tracer. The job classifications are permanent even if there are no employees to fill the positions.
• Approved a motion to send a resolution back to committee for supporting the allocation of funds for Public Safety Answering Points. The resolution asks the governor and Wisconsin State Legislature to allocate $15 million annually to fund grants to local 911 centers for equipment upgrades and ongoing maintenance through the existing Police and Fire Protection Fund.
• Approved a resolution supporting increased funding for county child support programs. The resolution asks the Wisconsin Legislature to increase funding for county child support agencies by $4 million in each fiscal year of the 2021-23 Wisconsin state budget. The increase would result in an approximate increase of $7.7 million each year in additional federal funding.
