BOYCEVILLE — The Village Board spent some time on a problem with the location of the proposed new sidewalk along East Street to the new Dollar store. East Street is State Highway 79 North.
Eric Barclay of MSA engineering firm out of Rice Lake, that is doing the design work for the new sidewalk, explained, that if the new sidewalk was installed within the highway right of way, the sidewalk would be at the bottom of the road ditch. Barclay presented the board with two drawings of the proposed sidewalk with one being within the road right of way and the other showing a distance of some 283 feet in length with the sidewalk located out side of the right of way.
Most of the distance of this item was on property of Trinity Lutheran Church with that proposal putting the sidewalk up to almost fifteen feet west of the road right of way. The right of way near the Lutheran Church makes a slight angle to the east before it goes straight north.
After much discussion the board liked the idea of moving the sidewalk out of the ditch, but they must meet with representatives of Trinity Lutheran to get their approval.
TO MUCH TIME
One of the agenda items for the Boyceville Board was to discuss the Police Station Parking. As soon as that item was brought up, board member Megan Mittlestadt spoke up and said; “We are spending too much time talking about parking.”
She was right, as the board spent a considerable amount of time talking about the small parking area behind the police station where there is room for only two or three cars.
Back in December the board approved allowing one space for the operator of the business in the basement of the library. Police Chief Greg Lamkin informed the board that he and his officer’s park their personal cars back there and they did not wish to leave them on Main Street while they are on duty. He noted that they had permission to also use the neighbors land for their parking. He also noted, that the parking area needs to be resurfaced.
Mittlestadt concluded that at most times there should not be two personal cars back there.
Concerned about freezing water pipes
During his report to the Village Board, Public Works head, Don Rose informed the board that they have requested 28 property owners who are connected to the public water system to leave the water running to prevent water pipes from freezing.
Rose said that they are experiences of water temperatures at 32 degrees while testing. He also noted that they have had broken water pipes under trailers and also had to replace several water meters because freezing water had broken the meters and that the owners are billed for the repairs.
Police Report
During his report to the Village Board, Police Chief Lamkin note that the new squad car was in, but that it will not be in service until the end of March, because of the equipment that needs to be transferred from the old unit.
His report indicated that the police department had 220 calls for service in January, an increase of some 26 percent over last year. “37 citations were issued in January and two arrests were made,” his report noted.
His report noted that Sgt. Rud located a motorist who drove into a snow bank. The driver was arrested for drunk driving. The chief responded to assist EMS with a report of a female having seizures. While there, he observed drug paraphernalia, and he conducted a search. Drugs and paraphernalia were seized, and the case was forwarded to the DA’s office. The suspect was sentenced to five years in prison and five years probation last week on other charges that were already pending.
The chief also told the board that he came in early to check for winter parking compliance on January 20th and issued seven citations.
Three appointments were made to the village’s Housing Committee. They were: Jonathan Farrell, Village President Luke Montgomery, and Amanda Rydel.
