Village of Stetsonville looks to beef up ordinance enforcement

The Stetsonville village board will be getting tough on those who violate village ordinances on property upkeep and other rules.

At Monday’s village board meeting, board members heard from building inspector Bob Christensen about what is needed in order for the village to write tickets to offenders and levy fines.

According to Christensen, the village needs to designate someone to enforce the village ordinances on their behalf. Christensen said that while he could be designated for that duty, he is not always in the village and works on a contract basis for building inspections. Instead he suggested the village board give someone such as public works director Jay Jochimsen the authority noting he would have a better ability to get enforcement.

Currently the village handles complaints about properties by contacting the property owner and asking them to address the issue, whether it is uncut grass, building safety concerns, or unregistered vehicles. The village then follows this up with a letter informing residents of the violation and penalties. However, enforcement stalls without someone having the authority to physically issue the ticket.

Christensen shared an ordinance from Rib Lake. In that village, he noted, the authority goes to law enforcement with the village’s police officer writing a ticket, but Stetsonville does not have its own police.

“You don’t have a mechanism to enforce ordinances,” Christensen said. He said the village needs someone to be able to write the ticket that says, “Here is a $50 fine and if you don’t fix it there will be another $50 fine tomorrow.”

The next step for the village is for the board to adopt an ordinance designating someone to issue tickets on the village’s behalf. “You want somebody who is employed by the village,” Christensen said, giving examples of the clerk, public works director or even a board member.

He said once that is put in place, the process would be similar to what it is now with the village contacting residents and writing them letters to give them a reasonable amount of time to correct the issue.

“You want to be as practical and reasonable as possible, but still want to get the job done,” Christensen said.

“It seems it is getting tougher every year to get people to do something,” said village president Greg Brunner.

The village board will work with village attorney Ruth Koch to get an ordinance written to create the enforcement position and then will look at who should be assigned those duties.

Sewer project It will be at least 2027 before construction could begin on a proposed force main connecting the village’s sewer system to the city of Medford, however, there is a lot of work that needs to be done even before the village knows if they will get funding to make the project happen.

The multi-million project seeks to use a force main and lift station to pump sewage waste from the village to be treated at the wastewater treatment plant in Medford. The village hopes to utilize funding through the state’s clean water loan program which includes hefty principal forgiveness and community development block grant funds.

The village’s current treatment plant is out of compliance with increasingly more stringent regulations for the removal of chemicals including phosphorus. The village discharges into what is considered the headwaters of the Big Eau Pleine Flowage so has even more stringent requirements to follow than other municipal systems. Connecting to Medford to have the plant there treat the waste was the more affordable option for the village. In addition, regionalizing the sewer treatment puts the village in a far stronger position in qualifying for competitive grant funds. Without grant funding, the village would be unable to afford to do any of the projects.

At last month’s meeting, board members formally approved moving ahead with the regionalization plan. On Monday, engineers from Short Elliot Hendrickson (SEH)were at the board meeting to get a copy of the approve minutes and to talk to the board about the next step.

According to Brea Grace, a certified urban and land use planner with SEH, this is a good time for the village to seek grant funding. She explained that it is the last year of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding and there is supplemental funding to the clean water fund program. She said they will be submitted an intent to apply in October, previously pre-applications scored very well. This pre-application is a required placeholder step allowing the full application to be submitted to the state in May 2026. The village will receive word by the end of summer 2026 and December 2026 for the major grant funding pieces of the project. If all goes well, construction could begin in spring of 2027.

However, before anything can be submitted, the village must have the designs for the project completed. Grace noted that the cost of doing the design work would be grant eligible for reimbursement.

Brunner noted it was weird to have to have the design work done, before you know if you will even get the grant.

Alex Zenner, Medford’s wastewater superintendent, noted that the city had run into the same thing with needing to have the design work for projects fully done in order to qualify for grants.

Grace explained that the regionalization component of the work not only gets the village more points in the grant application, but makes the project eligible for a higher principal forgiveness under the clean water loan program. The village would be potentially eligible for up to 70% principle forgiveness with the regionalization plan, compared to only 40% principle forgiveness for having a stand-alone system.

The first step in getting the plan design done is to contract with SEH to do a topographic survey along the proposed route. The intent is for the force main to follow the road right of way along Hwy 13. The engineers noted it will take about a week and a half to complete the survey and said it is better to get it done now than attempt to do it in the winter when there is snow on the ground.

Board members approved moving ahead with the topographic survey work to be done this summer.

Discussed the need to refinance the 10year balloon note for the tax incremental district (TID). The borrowing is repaid through revenue generated from improvements in the TID. While the loan does not come due until next spring, the village will need to have a loan payment amount for the 2026 budget.