North of STH 29 expansion

Marathon awards $4.3 million bid for business park

Marathon City officials awarded a $4.3 million contract last week to a company that will lay the groundwork for a major expansion of the village’s business park north of STH 29.

Kruczek Construction of Green Bay submitted the lowest of six bids for the project, which will include the construction of a new frontage road off STH 107 and the extension of water and sewer utilities from the north end of Blue Stone Lane under STH 29. The contract also calls for installing utility extensions from Cattail Avenue west to the yet-to-be-named frontage road.

South of STH 29, another contractor, Switlick and Sons, will be replacing a wastewater lift station on Maratech Av- enue with a gravity collection line as part of the larger project to provide sewer services to the north business park through an existing highway crossing. The contractor will also be extending sewer lines down North Ridge Road and paving the roadway.

Kruczek, which is currently working on a project in Weston, is expected to break ground on the business park expansion in August and finish up most of the work by the end of the year. The work on Maratech and North Ridge will start in early June and be completed by July.

Village administrator Andy Kurtz said the bids came in well under the village’s $6.5 million estimate, with the top-end price at $5.7 million. The bids were opened on May 5, and the contract was awarded at a special board meeting held May 10.

Kurtz said Kruczek has done work all over the Fox Valley and in Rothschild, and all of the municipalities he contacted had good experiences working with the company.

“They didn’t have any outstanding issues,” he said. “Projects were completed on time and on budget, which is important.”

Once the project is completed, Kurtz said public utilities will be extended from STH 107 all the way to 152nd Avenue, and from STH 29 north to the new frontage road, opening up over 200 acres for future development. The work will move from west to east so that infrastructure will be available this year for a new Kwik Trip and an apartment complex off STH 107.

On the east end of the project area, Kurtz said Kruczek will work through the winter to extend water and sewer utilities to the future home of Rib Falls Repair and other developable lots.

Street debt discussed

Trustees held a lengthy discussion about the longterm impact of borrowing money every year in order to keep up with road maintenance. Kurtz vigorously defended the practice, saying it’s the only way for municipalities to keep their streets in decent shape with limited financial resources.

The conversation came up during a review of the village’s five-year street improvement plan, which shows the cost of projects completed or planned from 2021 to 2025, along with the annual debt payments needed to finance the work. By the end of the five years, the village will need to pay over $225,500 annually as a result of borrowing for repaving or completely rebuilding a total of 3.84 miles of local roads.

Projected out over 20 years, Kurtz said the village will have redone roughly 15.63 miles of road if it maintains its current pace of work.

“Given what we’re currently doing right now, we’re on track to basically repave the entire village in 20 years,” he said.

The village has been taking out 10year loans every year to pay for this work, with the goal of paying off the debt over time and then doing additional borrowing to keep the road work cycle going. Kurtz said it’s “essentially a revolving credit line,” which is a common practice among cash-strapped municipalities.

Even with this continual borrowing, Kurtz emphasized that the village is still well below its state-mandated debt limit, so it could still borrow additional money if it needs to buy a plow truck or other expensive pieces of equipment. If needed, he said the board could always decide to scale back roadwork one or two years to pay down extra debt.

“We’re paying off debt and then we’re taking debt back on,” he said. “So, we’re not exponentially increasing the total amount of debt in the village. We’re just recycling the debt level that we’re currently at.”

Trustee Mark Ahrens, however, questioned the logic of continually borrowing more money without a plan to eventually pay it off completely. When he first got on the board, he said trustees would carefully pick out road projects every year that fit within the village’s budget.

“It just seems wrong that the revenue is not enough to pave the streets that we have to borrow for,” he said. “It’s just hard to take.”

Ahrens said the board needs to “keep an eye” on its debt load, but the public also needs to realize that the state is not providing enough money to keep local streets well-maintained.

State transportation aids have increased to the village in recent years, but Kurtz said they will never be enough to reimburse the village for the street work it needs to do. He noted that the village’s entire general fund budget is $1.3 million, which is needed for basic services like police and fire protection and snow plowing.

Ahrens suggested that it may not be the worst thing to forgo street maintenance some years, just so the village doesn’t continue to accumulate debt.

“I can drive on a street that’s busted up for another three years versus getting it fixed,” he said. “I don’t need everything perfect.”

Trustee Jeff Lawerence wondered if the village could “pause” its roadwork for a couple of years to save money, but Kurtz said that would likely result in a strong public backlash.

“As it sits right now, we will always have debt related to our streets,” Kurtz said.

Village president Kurt Handrick said he understands the conflict between needing to maintain village streets and people’s reluctance to borrow more money.

“Everybody likes nice roads, but not everybody likes debt,” Handrick said. “I’m not a big fan of it myself.”

Planning commission

The following actions were taken at a planning commission meeting held May 10 before the village board meeting:

Kurtz told commissioners that a newly constructed 16-unit apartment building at the Blue Stone Estates on Maratech Avenue will start accepting new tenants in late June or early July. Contractor S.C. Swiderski is currently building two more apartment buildings on the north end of the estate, with the goal of making them available by November or December.

The Oak Park Place project, a 41unit apartment complex north of STH 29, is slated to break ground in September and be completed by the summer of 2024, Kurtz said. He provided architectural renderings to commissioners, calling it an “attractive structure.”

The commission approved setback variances for Tyler Riehle at 504 Washington St., Joel Julhke at 611 Spring Valley Ct. and Menzner Hardwood at 100 Main St.