Lake Holcombe Town Board; Town on the hook for county’s storm sewer?

After years of trying to fix the problem and no results, the Chippewa County Highway Commission is finally looking at a permanent solution to cleaning out the ditch in front of the Lake Holcombe Lions Club Park (Staudacher Field). By doing that, the county is taking the wetlands out of that area, but the responsibility for the project doesn’t just rest on their shoulders.

“The only efficient way to do it, is to put a storm sewer from up the east, almost to the Big Minnow,” said Buck Steele, Lake Holcombe Sanitary Board, “and put the storm sewer all the way down and dump into the connection there, coming out of the ponds. By doing that, the sewer district has three sewer lines in there and they’re right at the height they want to put the storm sewer.”

As Steele reported at a regular Lake Holcombe Town Board meeting July 8, the sanitary district was told they have to move the sewer lines so the county can install the storm sewer, to the tune of $19,000 for the district.

“I thought that was pretty excessive,” said Steele.

Steele then met with Laird Construction, who said they will give an estimate. Because anything over $5,000 has to be put on bids, Steele wants to get an idea of how much the project truly will be. The county did say that they will need to excavate the area, anyway, so Lairds or others wouldn’t need to factor that in the cost.

Whoever gets the bid, will also need to pump the area out just to work in it, since the water level is so high. Those present agreed that the project will improve the looks of the county’s right-of-way on Highway M, as it is a high-traffic area. However, they also felt it would be nice if the three entities could split the costs, which remains to be seen if that will happen.

“The county’s been dragging their feet on that project for decades,” said supervisor David Staudacher.

At the last meeting, the board decided to post notices that they planned to make it “no parking” on 303rd Avenue on both sides, up to the corner near the boat landing. At the latest meeting, the board followed through and approved the changes.

Many complaints have come in, about people parking in front of people’s drives or too close to the drives, so the residents can’t access their property.

“It’s been a constant thing,” said chairman Brian Guthman.

“It could be a concern for an ambulance, too,” pointed out supervisor Doug Olson.

It was agreed that the town should notify campground owners that there are multiple boat landings throughout Holcombe, and where parking is prohibited, as well as looking into installing signs showing where the landings are located.

Guthman says no parking on both sides is recommended on any of Holcombe’s streets, so there are other areas the town is keeping an eye on.

Members also changed the classification, from 295th Avenue (where the Haas-Gulich pit is located) to 300th Avenue, and 300th from 295th to 310th Street, to a Class B designation. The change eliminates constant, heavy traffic on those roadways, with the Town of Ruby promising to also enact a Class B on 300th, the rest of the way out, so traffic doesn’t come in from G.

With the changes, those with large trucks will have to ask permission for various uses on the roads.

“But that would be just one occasion at a time, not an every day thing, driving back and forth, hauling gravel out,” said Guthman.

Roads have also been blacktopped on 304th and 278th streets, as well as shouldering that was completed. Ditches have also been done and re-seeded.

“It looks really great, so, hopefully, that will last a long, long time,” said Guthman. “We must have cut 200 trees out of that road right-of-way, so that really opened it up.”

Guthman said he thinks that will help keep moisture out in that area, and that the town plans to start on the Pine Lake road, clearing the right-of-way for re-paving next year.

He also mentioned how nice the annual July 4 fireworks were, at the Wayside Park.

“The Lake Holcombe Resort and Business Association did a great job – did an excellent job cleaning up after themselves,” said Guthman. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of other people that lit off a lot of fireworks during the day and that time, and left all the paper and things like that.”

Guthman says he appreciates the hard work DeeDee Shackleton puts in for the park, as she cleaned up three large garbage bags of trash and raked the sandy beach area to get rid of the ash from the explosives.

“I think maybe it’s time we look at banning fireworks at the park, for people other than the ones shooting them off at the pavilion,” said Guthman.

As an update to the joint Ambulance Board, Guthman says they agreed to purchase a new ambulance chassis and reconditioned box for $125,000.

“If everything works out, the EMTs are… going to be EMT-1s,” he said.

The upgrade means that the emergency personnel can handle IV treatments and no longer need intercepts from Chippewa Falls. Although there is a cost to get the EMT-1 certification, Guthman says in the long run, it will be more cost effective and will actually increase calls the service can take.

It’s estimated revenue would increase by $20,000 annually after the first year. It will also improve service to the area and could potentially save a patient.

“And that’s a concern for residents,” said Anneleise Willmarth, acting clerk for the night.