Dorchester tries to find solution for two recurring issues

The Dorchester Village Board has attempted to tackle two issues plaguing the village over the past year: what to do with stray dogs and payments that are due to Steen Construction.

Stray dogs

At the village board’s August meeting, the board put a preliminary plan in place to have stray dogs taken to a resident of rural Dorchester who could kennel and chip-read the dogs.

However, at the board’s September 6 meeting, the board was notified by trustee Daniella Schauer, who had been spear heading the proposal to have the resident take care of the dogs, that an unforeseen circumstance will no longer allow the resident to take care of the dogs.

She said the individual no longer lives in the area and the board would have to figure out a different way to take care of stray dogs. Clark County Sheriff’s Officer Dan Walters was in attendance and said he could take the dogs to the Clark County Humane Society in Neillsville, but that would cost a large amount in fuel and time.

Walters told the board that a lot of local humane societies and pounds are at full capacity so he was unsure what the village could do to house the dogs. He also said in order to transport the dogs, he would need to have equipment installed in his patrol vehicle as the last dog he transported left a “mess” in his vehicle.

The board decided to have Schauer, Walters and trustee Eric Klemetson research what area entities could take the dogs.

Street project

The other recurring topic on Dorchester board agendas has been the street project which was substantially completed by Steen Construction last fall.

The project is not yet fully complete as Steen Construction needs to complete punchlist items that Cooper Engineering had prepared when surveying the work done.

The second pay request was signed at the board’s May meeting and was approved by Steen Construction on May 19. After the request was signed by the contractor, the village had 10 days to pay the $433,000 due for the request until interest started being charged to the village. Since then, Steen said trustee Tom Carter had dropped off a check for a portion of the $433,000 but the DNR’s portion, consisting of around $300,000 of the total bill has been hung up in the approval process.

The village is being charged 6% in annual interest on the remaining money that has yet to be paid to Steen meaning in the 106 days since the 10 day grace period, the village has been charged up to $7,000 in interest so far.

Schauer said the village should not pay the interest because it is not the village board’s fault the pay request has not been completed.

“We are not going to pay that,” Schauer said. “That is going to go back on Cooper [Engineering] because we should not have to pay that. I’m not saying [Steen] doesn’t deserve it, but the village isn’t going to pay it.”

Prior to the pay request being completed, the village had discussed getting a temporary loan in order to facilitate the payment earlier. However, after foregoing the loan, the village turned to the DNR to facilitate the payment.

That process has taken longer than expected and at the August 2 meeting, Scot Balsavich of Cooper Engineering said nobody was to blame for the delay, but rather that’s just the way the financing process had panned out.

Balsavich was not in attendance at the September 6 meeting but village board members voiced their displeasure in the process and Cooper Engineering’s role in the debacle.

“I was really hoping Scot would have been here,” Shane Steen of Steen Construction said. “We’ve reached out to him, called and emailed him with no response.”

Steen said he was required to send information to the DNR and it was his understanding that after he did so earlier this summer, he was on track to be paid soon after. He said at this point, he didn’t care how, but he just wanted the money he was owed.

“I know the person we need to talk to isn’t here, but it’s gone on way too long,” Steen said.

Board members agreed that he should be paid for the work he completed. Steen offered to call the village’s DNR representative to find out what is holding up the payment process. Schauer said the village is paying Cooper Engineering to do that so Steen should not have to take time out of his schedule to call the DNR and find out what is going on.

“I would gladly do it,” Steen said. “I would rather hear it from the DNR’s mouth than from Scot’s.”

The board decided to schedule a meeting with Steen, the board and Balsavich along with a property owner within the village who has an issue with the lift station in order to hash the issues out.

Other business

n Two residents in attendance at the meeting wished to understand what was happening with the lift station. Originally, Balsavich said the stakes showing where the fencing for the station was supposed to go were removed. The contractor installed the fencing anyway and it was put up partially on the resident’s property.

The board told the resident that the error should have never happened and they agreed they needed to get in touch with Balsavich to figure out how to make it right with the land owner. Moving the fence or paying the resident for the land that it occupies were both on the table but no decision was made at the meeting.

“We’ve gotta get that staked out because I’ll tell you what, if I lived where he lived, I’d be [very angry],” Klemetson said.

The issue was to be brought up at a future meeting with the land owners, the board and Balsavich.

n The board passed a similar extraterritorial zoning resolution that other municipalities have passed over the past few months. The resolution would allow Dorchester to form a committee with surrounding townships in order to pass ordinances on an area up to a mile and a half around the village. Board members said the wind turbine developments are the reason they wanted to get the ordinance passed. Klemetson said he wanted the board to fight the turbines, “tooth and nail.”

n The board approved a motion to close South Front Street for the Dorchester Days car show in 2024. The proposal was brought before the board because the show has outgrown its original location on North Second Street and causes traffic issues.

n Jenny Hinker was in attendance and asked the board if she could get an employee to help with the bowling lanes at Memorial Hall during league nights. The board has explored this in the past but has had no luck in finding someone willing to be paid to perform the job.

The board said they would ask the Sports Page in Medford if they had any leads on a person that would be willing to come to Dorchester and do the job.