Gilman explores options for dealing with manure in park

The village of Gilman is looking for a solution to a stinky problem in the village park.

At the May 10 village board meeting trustees discussed possible options on how to deal with the manure left in the park from horses used by the area’s Amish population.

While pleased that groups were using the park, the concern was raised that animal waste was being left in areas including under park shelters and in areas used for concessions at events.

Public works director Dave Kroeplin said he was open to suggestions for places in the park where they could set up a hitching post so the waste would be primarily in one area.

“It would be nice to have one area to worry about cleaning,” said trustee Russell Baker.

Suggestions included by where the rope swing used to be located or near the park dumpsters. Kroeplin was concerned that it would create more smells by the dumpsters. Another suggestion was to have an area to the east of the baseball field. Village board members and staff will look at options.

Trustees questioned if the horse’s owners should be cleaning up after them. “Aren’t they supposed to use catch bags?” asked trustee Ericka Berstinger.

“Do you have a bag on your exhaust?” Baker asked.

From talking about manure in the parks, trustees talked about the annual grading of the village’s wastewater treatment system. The village receives an aggregate score of 3.9 on the compliance maintenance annual report (CMAR).

The CMAR grades the systems’ sewer plant operations of a variety of areas assigning a letter and number grade to each of eight areas. The village received top marks on all but the influent flow and loadings.

Kroeplin noted the village doesn’t have a lot of direct control over what comes in to be treated, but was pleased with the other ratings.

“I don’t consider a B a bad grade,” Baker said.

Trustees formally approved the annual report.

Police update

Tallier updated board members on the number of complaints he responded to during the month. He said he had 17 incidents in the month, which he described as being high for Gilman.

“It is not too often we have that many calls during the month,” Tallier said.

Trustee Bob Preston asked about the situation with drugs in the community. Tallier said that one of the recent theft complaints was due to someone being under the influence of meth and in the month before he said there was a meth complaint with a subject on the west side of town.

He noted that drug issues in general have seen an increase across the entire county, but noted that it goes up and down over time. “It is trending in the upward direction in the area now,” he said.

“It is good to hear that you don’t have any hits at school,” said village president Jane DeStaercke.

Phoenix House

Tallier switched hats to update the board on economic development efforts in the village.

He reported that he spoke with a new contact for the Phoenix House who indicated plans to move forward on building in July. He said the contact also told him they had about nine acres of land as part of their parcel that they wold look at getting rid of to reduce the amount of property they needed to maintain.

Tallier said the village may be interested noting it would be a nice site to look at building duplexes or quad plexes.

“Any housing in the area would be a benefit for them,” Tallier said of Phoenix House, noting it would increase convenience for staff to work nearby.

He noted that economic development has eyed land across the street from the facility, but described that as “being held hostage for price.”

He offered to do more legwork on working with Phoenix House to potentially move forward in acquiring land for future development.

Internet service

The village hall is switching to Ntera for internet service.

Village clerk Candice Grunseth requested the switch noting that the current provider has been too slow despite complaints that the speed has dropped.

The cost is $19.99 per month with upfront hook-up charges of $60.63 and a possible $39.99 for a new router if needed.

While Grunseth was seeking 20 Mbps speed, DeStaercke suggested that they should look at 50 Mbps which is what she said most residential customers have.

Trustees approved the switchover noting that it can be brought back to go to a higher plan if needed.

Snowmobile bridge

Trustees gave their vocal support for Baker to continue working with property owners, the local snowmobile club and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with the goal of getting a dedicated snowmobile bridge crossing the Yellow River from private land into the village park.

The snowmobile bridge would eliminate the need to run snowmobiles on village roads to cross on a road bridge. The club is seeking grant funds and is currently negotiating for a 50-year easement to allow for access. Russell said the property owner is willing with conditions that it not be used for UTV traffic and only for the summer. Suggestions were to put a removable post in the bridge to prevent traffic over it during the summer.

“I woulds say go for it,” said Berstinger, noting it would be better than running on the village roads.

Baker said he was coming to the village board now seeking their preliminary approval to access the park. “I would like to get a feel about how the board feels about it,” Baker said.

“I am looking for a soft OK,” he said, noting that if it came to be the board would have to approve a formal easement.

“The general feeling is we are all for it,” DeStaercke said.

In other business, board members:

  Approved citing American Asphalt $75,000 for the asphalt for the Davlin St. project. The road surface is being pulverized and replaced. Kroeplin noted there will be some culvert work being done also.

  Discussed the possible options for sidewalk work along Main St. (Hwy 64). Under village code, the property owners pay half of the cost of replaced sidewalks. DeStaercke noted that with the amount involved, the village may want to make arrangements to set up payment plans for property owners rather than requiring payment all at one time. Trustees also talked about options such as potentially putting heating under some areas to cut down on the need for salt and manual snow removal. Baker was also going to collect more information about a potential for a rubberized surface that would be more floating and less prone to cracking and heaving like the existing concrete is.

  Agreed to putting the uniform dwelling code updates onto the next board meeting to allow the committee time to review potential changes.