Cornell City Council; Street repairs are always on the minds of city officials

Bill Kvapil (left) and Aimee Korger look over estimates for a high service well pump, at a Cornell City Council meeting Nov. 4. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

Now that the Baribeau and Johnson roads project is complete, the Cornell City Council set their sights on what portion of street to do next. During a Finance Committee meeting Nov. 4, members decided what project to start, after receiving $25,000 through the recent Local Road Improvement Program (LRIP) county-wide meeting The city needs to submit a project by Nov. 15, with three or four years to get the project complete.

“It does require a match,” said city administrator Dave DeJongh, adding that the funds would be a good use for a pulverize and re-pave on one of the city streets. “Since there isn’t a lot of money to do utility work – you can’t use any of this money for utility work – Fifth Street, which is in tough shape, probably wouldn’t be a good application.”

There is a stretch of road on South Eighth Street, between Polzin and Baribeau roads, that is a good option to use the LRIP money.

“It hits that sweet spot of $50,000,” said DeJongh. Council member Aimee Korger asked if there are any streets on the northern side of the city that don’t need sewer work.

“Does it all have to be utility work?” she asked. DeJongh said it seems as though all the streets to the north of Main Street are in bad shape and need utility work, which costs a lot more. That’s why the city relies on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to get the street projects with sewer work done.

With the next round of CDBG funding, it could be possible to tie in Fifth Street, South Third Street from Osborne to Moen, or Bates Street and two of the other streets as tieins.

“We’re trying to find out from the funding source, which is the CDBG or the Department of Administration, how connected this project has to be,” said DeJongh.

The projects could be leapfrogged, like the Seventh Street project in the past, which included Sixth Street from Main Street, to Squire Drive. DeJongh said although Fifth Street is in bad shape, he hates to see the city tying up three years of funding for only one street, and wants to make the projects count.

“It does make sense,” agreed Korger. Council member Bill Kvapil said a lot of streets need attention, it’s just a matter of finding the money to do it. At the following regular meeting, the council approved using the LRIP funds to do work on Eighth Street, as proposed.

The work will be the same as on Baribeau and Johnson roads, which is now complete, including the paving and shouldering from Monarch.

“They did a good job, I was really satisfied with it,” said Kvapil.

DeJongh said there are a couple driveway entrances on those roads that need fine tuning, but otherwise, the work is complete, adding that they were fortunate on the good weather and getting pavement in that late. Kvapil says he liked that Monarch put the first layer of asphalt down, then let it sit for a while before the second course was laid down, which helped the pavement set well.

“It’s good to have that done,” said DeJongh. It’s also been good weather for most of the year, which helped with the construction of the wastewater treatment plant upgrades, but despite that, the completion has to be pushed back yet again, to December, because valves for the plant have not arrived.

“We’re keeping our funding sources made aware of these issues, so they’re no surprises for extensions,” said De-Jongh. “I think other than that, the project has come along pretty well.”

Also needed, are high service well pumps, as the city’s water tower is in need of required painting next summer. To ensure water levels are met while that happens, bids for the pumps were received from three companies.

“It’s kind of crucial that we have both pumps working while we have our tower out of commission,” said De-Jongh.

Submitting bids, were Crane Engineering, for $14,302; STW Corporation, for $20,880; and Municipal Well & Pump, for $15,670.

The council agreed to go with the proposal from Crane. “If we got to have it, we got to have it,” said council member Floyd Hickethier.

Also set before the council, was a proposal to relocate the fire sign from the property of the current DNR ranger station building. The ranger station is moving out of the city, so the Cornell Area Fire Department wants to place it at Mill Yard Park, between the park and Welcome to Cornell signs.

“They’re going to pay for all the costs of moving, maintenance, the city’s got nothing, no financial liability,” said mayor Mark Larson.

With the blessing of the council, the fire department will check with the WisDOT, to see if the position of the sign is allowed, since it sits along State Hwy. 64.

“It’s actually a good sign, because a lot of people don’t have a clue with what’s going on with how dry it is,” said council member Terry Smith.

Members also approved the 2022 budget of $1,265,955, as well as the taxable levy limit, which is set by the state, of $478,210. DeJongh says that amount does include a new squad car for the police department, as the current model needs to move to a backup.

“We’re $1 under what we can levy,” said DeJongh. As a notice to anyone who wishes to run for a position on the council, spring election nomination papers can begin circulation Dec. 1. Council members up for re-election, are Kvapil, Smith and council president Steve Turany, as well as the mayoral position.

It was also reported that the Field of Dreams project at the Mill Yard Park little league field is moving ahead, with removal of the current fence and the new fence due to be installed. Work on the dugouts are on hold until spring, as the city is still waiting on bids, but the infield material was delivered.

Council members Ashley Carothers said she’s had questions of what’s going on at the Cornell High School football field and what’s happening, is a new track surface is in progress, as well as a revamping of the tennis courts.

A second layer of asphalt will go on in the spring, then a rubber coating will be laid down on that and the tennis courts, before the lines are painted. With the updates, there will adjustable height poles for tennis, badminton, pickleball and volleyball, as well as installing additional basketball hoops.

“We weren’t able to find somewhere to do pickleball,” said Carothers, who is chair of the Parks and Recreation Committee.

Carothers said she is grateful to the school district for not only paying for the little league fence, but also for supporting the community wish list that the city can’t provide for the residents.

“It’s nice to know we have a school district that’s able to provide that for us,” said Carothers.