Ntera broadband services close to up and running by first of the year

The public is crying out for broadband in Gilman, and Ntera has heard the call and is continuing the process to provide that service to the rural community.

“Things are moving along,” said Gilman Village president Jane DeStaercke at a board meeting Nov. 9.

Ntera plans to visit homes to sign up those who want the fiber services and will later send a technician back to walk the customer through how everything will work. The company has a goal of being up and running by the first of January.

To answer any questions, Ntera is holding an informational meeting Friday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m., at the village hall.

“It sounds like it’s going to be a pretty good deal,” said DeStaercke.

As for the county broadband project, they are about a year behind on the completion date, mostly because of the supply chain and equipment not available.

DeStaercke also said she talked with village assessor Bob Prokof, in regard to terms of what properties should be billed for fire protection. Prokof said as far as he is concerned, that any property that has an improvement on it, is what the village has in mind. When pouring over the books, village treasurer Fran Prasnicki found a handful that have not been billed with public fire protection and will be in the future.

Still in the works, is the new Dollar General, with work ready to begin. Before that could happen, however, the new road they are building at the site had to be named. Upon request from Rose Komanec, the access road is to be named after her parents (Komanec), who were long-time residents who owned the property.

That was settled, as was the matter that neighboring property owner Jim Hendricks was asked by the Wis-DOT to change his stance on giving up his driveway access. Since Dollar General is putting the new road in, it wouldn’t cost Hendricks anything.

“He seems to want to keep things the way they are,” said DeStaercke.

Legally, that is fine, but down the road, if there is development in the future and the road is extended, Hendricks will have to give up access at that time, at his own expense.

While on the subject of growth in the village, DeStaercke mentioned the Fulcrum Foundation, new entity created from what used to be the Memorial Member Association, that has funding available. It sounds like a good avenue for the village, but they might need to combine with other organizations to use the money.

For normal funding operations, the board approved Resolution 2022-11, to adopt the 2023 budget, of $553,394, with the levy set at $186,885.

As part of readying themselves for winter, the village also mulched the park leaves to make putting up the Christmas decorations easier, as well as hanging Christmas decorations up on Main Street early, as it was the only time Thorp was available to bring the lift truck.

The public works department also flushed the fire hydrants and over-filled the water tower, which director Rick Johnson joked “needs it from time to time.”

What is no joke, is that Dan Wundrow, from Rural Water, came and set the speed of pumpage for the pumps. Johnson and director-in-training Dave Kroeplin took notes, so they now know how to do it in-house. Johnson says the pumpage is now as efficient as it can be and has no air in the lines, saving the village $240 a year.

“Just by his adjusting,” said Johnson. The Connie and John Agen tribute bench was also placed by the tank and the village put down granite for it to sit on.

“It looks pretty good by the tank,” said Johnson.