Whose job is it?

County may need to take over ATV trail maintenance work

Taylor County may need to take a greater role in keeping ATV trail systems maintained in the future.

County forest administrator Jake Walcisak cautioned members of the forestry and recreation committee on August 5 that the county may need to be more active in the future in ensuring trails are maintained and kept open.

Taylor County has historically served as a funding mechanism for ATV and snowmobile trail maintenance. The county is able to secure state grants based on the number of miles of trails in the county. This money is then given to the clubs to help volunteers with covering the cost of trail maintenance and rehabilitation projects. The county typically receives about $30,000 a year in trail maintenance funding.

According to Walcisak, the number of club members able to do the work has dwindled, and in the absence county staff have had to pick up the slack. Walcisak estimated that in a typical year the county would have about 15 to 20 billable hours to the administration of the ATV trail program. He said that by the end of the year he expects to have personally 120 hours into the program. Other than taking Walcisak away from other duties, these hours are paid through the grant program and do not cost county taxpayers any additional dollars.

“I don’t believe it is sustainable,” Walcisak said, noting that their hope is that club membership rebounds. He explained that medical issues kept the main club volunteers from doing the work this year, but he also cautioned that this may just be a sign of what is to come.

Walcisak said that if it is going to be the county doing the work going forward, the county may need to look at bringing on grant-funded part-time summer help to run trail maintenance equipment or hire outside private contractors to do the work. Regardless of what option the county chose, Walcisak noted that not as much work would get done simply because it would cost more than the minimal reimbursement paid to club volunteers for the work.

“If we don’t have club support, do we have trails?” Walcisak asked, noting the trail network gets a lot of non-resident use.

Committee chairman Scott Mildbrand raised concern about this trend, noting it was OK when it was the county staff doing the grant paperwork for the various clubs. “My concern would be that if we have this happen, it would push that model to a place where we would have to raise taxes on everyone in the county,” he said.

“There is a fork in the road here,” Walcisak said. He said the county could do the work with its staff or hire contractors. Regardless, he said it will result in less miles being maintained. He suggested doing the work up to the amount of the grant and not anything more than that.

“We will get less done,” he said. Walcisak said the idea of hiring a summer trail maintenance person is feasible, suggesting there may be retired county highway employees familiar with using that sort of equipment. However there could also be additional equipment costs.

Committee member James Gebauer noted that trail pressure has been less in recent years since virtually all town roads were opened. He said especially in the county forest, the trails all connect to town road routes. Mildbrand said when roads were opened to ATVs there was supposed to be no cost to taxpayers. He said this should follow through with the trails having no cost to the taxpayers also. He worried that if they opened the door to having the county maintain the trails, it would lead to other requests.

Walcisak said that for now, they are able to handle the additional work. “If it becomes the new normal then we have to do something different,” he said, noting it will be about 100 additional work hours per year for his department.

Committee member Gary Beadles supported working as far as the $30,000 grant would take them and then when it was gone, it was gone. “You can only spend so much,” he said.

Milbdrand agreed and said the county should hire a contractor to do the work and get done what they are able to get done.

Committee member Rollie Thums agreed saying he felt the county should not be subsidizing the ATV trails. Other committee members agreed and approved a motion to spend up to the grant amount on trail maintenance.

In other business, committee members:

_ Discussed the noncompliance for a logging contract with Northwest Hardwoods and the logger they subcontracted with. Walcisak said he spoke with law enforcement about the potential for pursuing timber theft citations, but said the consensus among those he talked with was that the penalties imposed by the county for a two year bidding ban were enough. “Their recommendation is to go no further with the law enforcement option, “ Walcisak said. With remaining work to be done on that sale, the county will return half of the surety bond on the project and and allow the contract for the remainder of the sale to expire this fall. “We have to stand up for the loggers,” Beadles said of the need to support those who follow rules. Walcisak said that in similar circumstances in the future, law enforcement would be involved immediately in the process so that they can do their own investigation.

_ Received an update on the Miller Dam sluice gate project. Walcisak noted that the flowage was drawn down slightly on July 18 and 19 in order for the new gate to be installed by divers. He said that the historical average for lake level in summer is 1,259 feet above sea level and that it was lowered to 1,248.7 feet for the dive team. As of the meeting, the level was back up to 1,259.1 feet.

_ Walcisak updated committee members that he has been talking with DNR representatives about the potential to do fishery improvements next summer when the Camp 8 flowage is drained for dam replacement. Milbdrand said he has a meeting scheduled with the sportsman’s club to see if there is any possibility of partnerships on fishery improvements to the lake.

_ Approved terminating and reassigning the gravel bid contract for $41,000 of crushed gravel from Brody Brunner to Bill Brunner. The gravel has been crushed and inspected by Walcisak and is sitting in Bill Brunner’s pit. The two no longer work together. “It appears to be a family squabble that went wrong,” Walcisak said.

Workers from Kramer Plumbing and Heating were busy Tuesday morning digging up pavement from Wisconsin Ave. to help take care of a collapsed pipe from the nearby building. Traffic was detoured around the area.EMILY GOJMERAC/THE STAR NEWS