Rib Lake works out compromise for squad storage

by Donald Watson , The Star News
August 30, 2010 — The Rib Lake Village Board gave its unofficial approval its meeting on August 25 to a plan to resolve issues with the squad car stored in the ambulance garage.
Taylor County Ambulance Service manager Christ Gengler told the board she had been in contact with police officer Dan Kraschnewski about the squad car in the ambulance garage and discussed three options. The first one was to remove the car from the garage. The second one was to have the vehicle stored outside from May through September. The third one was to remove the car on meeting weekends.
"I realize it's not feasible to removed the squad car from the garage." Gengler said. "It needs to be inside because of the equipment and things like that. And in the summer months, it's the same thing. So what the ambulance service is requesting is on weekends when we have our meetings, and I will let Dan know when that it, that he remove the squad car on Friday, sweep up the floor so the infloor heat has time to dry the floor so we can doing our training and Dan would put the car back in on Monday." Gengler said Kraschnewski was more than willing to do that and if anyone else comes forward to discuss ambulance issues to direct them to her. "So with the board's approval, we would like permission to move the squad car on the weekends when we have our meetings," Gengler said.
Gengler said the ambulance service has a key for the squad car and could move the car out themselves, but admitted she didn't know much about infloor heat and how long it would take to dry the floor. Trustee Vernell Van Hecker said he had it in his garage and it didn't take long to dry the floor, providing there wasn't a vehicle parked in it with ice and snow hanging on it that would continue to drip on the floor, which he said would be the case during the winter.
"Exactly," Gengler said, "and that's why Dan and I talked about removing the car on Friday so he wouldn't have to drive up on Sunday to move the car out."
"I don't think we can schedule the officer's time around moving the car in and out," village president Wayne Tlusty said.
"Correct, and that's what Dan was talking about," Gengler said.
"As long as this works between Chris and Dan, I don't see any problems," trustee Bob Carpenter comment.
"My comment isn't an objection," Tlusty said. "We have limited police time as it is and I'm not so sure it's the best use of police time to be up here Monday morning to move the squad car."
"No," Carpenter agreed. "I assume when the car is out, it will stay out until he comes on duty."
"And we also talked about Todd Ewan moving the car back in," Gengler said.
"And I think that would help all around," Tlusty said. "I hear what you're saying and you need to accomplish something with the car. There's really no reason why Todd couldn't put it back in the garage."
"It is an effort to try and appease the EMTs, but still provide the functionality for the village and for the town people to have everything they need," Gengler said.
Seeing a consensus among the board members, Tlusty said he didn't think there was a need for a motion. "I think we have this understanding," he said. "We're going to give it a try and see how it works. I assume if it isn't working on your end, you'll let us know. And if it isn't working on our end, either I or Dan will let you know. Let's hope it satisfies everyone's needs."
"From the EMS [Emergency Medical Services] standpoint, from the ambulance management's standpoint, this is satisfying. This is what we're working for," Gengler said.
Street project update
Tlusty also briefed the board on progress with the Railroad Street and Fayette Avenue reconstruction projects.
He said Haas Construction would be in the village during the upcoming week to fix several soft spots in the roadway as they continue to let the road subsurface settle and compact. If the weather holds and everything goes according to plan, Tlusty said the concrete curb and gutter work would begin on September 13.
Tlusty said the first one and one-half of blacktop paving is scheduled to be laid beginning October 2 and should take one or two days to complete. The second one and one-half inches of blacktop would be put down next spring. He said once the first layer of pavement was laid, Haas would begin site restoration along both streets which should be completed this fall.
In other action, the board:
n approved a bid of $19,363 from American Asphalt to resurface Pearl Street from Hwy 102 to Railroad Street. The state, through the county, would provide $8,000 for the project with the rest of the money coming from the village's capital improvement fund.
n approved submitting a formal request to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to change the speed limits on Hwy 102. The proposed request would post the speed limit at 45 mph from East Road to Lakshore Drive, 35 mph from Lakeshore to Mill Lane, 25 mph from Mill Lane to CTH D, 30 mph from CTH D to State Road by the Catholic church, and 45 mph from State Road to the bridge over the Little Rib River west of the village.