August 15, 2008
Village board approves contract for street, utility assessment
by Donald Watson
The Rib Lake Village Board approved an agreement with the engineering firm MSA Professional Services in Marshfield to conduct an evaluation of the streets and utilities in the village.
The agreement, not to exceed $1,100, will provide an assessment of the streets, utilities, etc and what the village wants done and needs to do. "The assessment would provide a guide for village when deciding capital improvement plan so that that we get the cart in the right place and horse in the right place hopefully, or if we choose not to and do the work more for political reason than professional engineering reasons," said board president Wayne Tlusty.
Tlusy said the village isn't really in a position to say one street needs work more than another. The village doesn't have an engineer on staff or have a tight working relationship with an engineering firm. The assessment will help the village put things into focus so it is looking at the right way on what is the condition of the infrastructure and where the village needs to start. He said when the village starts to prioritize what it wants done, the board will be able to make sure it has the right things in order.
"How do we know to do this utility before that street or Railroad before Fayette," said Tlusty. "We can sit here and politically say that. But Lee Emmer [project engineer] will say from an engineering standpoint what he thinks the village should do, not from a political or neighborhood reasons."
"Would he have found the possible break across the highway had this been done years ago?" asked trustee Vern Van Hecker.
"It would have been in there as a need," answered Tlusty. "Just the condition of the piping would have said 'Red flag. This was something the needs to be looked at'."
"I think this is a very good idea,' said trustee Doug Polacek. "We've talked to Kevin [Radtke]. We want to get to the point where we list all the utilities and the dates when they were last done so we can take a look at them. They're just scattered all over. I think someone to help us pull it all together would be a great help."
"This board isn't going to be the same," commented Bill Schreiner. "Those figures will be there for everyone to look."
"Nor are all of our employees going to be the same," added trustee Bob Carpenter. "Over time they retire and so on and this is very worthwhile."
"And the price is very, very fair," said Tlusty. "Emmer gave us a lot of other work free. He's got 31 years of experience working with villages as an engineer."
The assessment should take approximately one month to complete.
Fireworks base
In other action, the board approved a request from the fireworks committee to construct a fireworks base on Pine Island.
The committee wants to construct a platform of railroad ties dug in to ground level off to the side of the picnic area. Right now, said Polacek, the fireworks are shot off from a barge, but they want something solid and dug in to provide a solid base base from which to shoot off the fireworks.
"Is this going to be cemented in?" asked Schreiner.
"No, it's going to be railroad ties," replied Polacek. "It was their idea. I don't know how you would get concrete out there."
"How about Quick set." said Schreiner.
"There talking about putting down 20 timbers, so its a fairly large area." said Polacek.
"I'm just thinking," said Schreiner. "Some of those big ones [fireworks] knock the raft right under the water. Are the timber going to get to break loose, too?"
"Apparently they checked it out and don't think so," said Polacek.
If you put timbers under the fireworks, is there a hot blast coming out underneath them that might start a fire?" asked trustee Greg Thums.
The fireworks themselves are shot off inside a pipe," said Polacek.
"I certainly have no objection," said Carpenter. "In fact, I think it's a good idea. But we do have to make sure is unobtrusive and doesn't have an effect on the campground."
"Yes, that's the first question I asked," said Polacek. "It's off to the side and if the request is approved, I'll go out there with them and take a look at it."
"For all they've done and all they do for the community, if we can help them out, it seems a small way of say thank you," said Tlusty.
