County’s proposed 2024 projects total $21 million
Marathon County departments have requested over $21 million worth of capital improvement projects for 2024, but not all of those proposals will go forward next year, according to deputy county administrator Chris Holman.
Holman outlined the list of proposed projects for members of the Human Resources, Finance and Capital Committee at its July 12 meeting, but no action was taken by the committee to recommend any of the projects to the full county board. Before the committee’s next meeting in August, Holman said county administration will trim down the list based on funding availability and other factors, such as how close existing facilities are to the end of their functional life.
A ranked list of projects will be presented to the committee and eventually passed on to the full county board for approval as part of the 2024 budget process.
About a quarter of the $21 million would go toward one project – a $5 million renovation of the county’s Lake View Drive campus in Wausau. Social Services recently relocated there from its previous headquarters on Thomas Street, and the campus is also home to the Health Department and Facilities & Capital Management.
Four other departments also plan on moving to the Lake View Drive location. The Aging & Disability Resource Center (ARDC) will be vacating a rented space at 2600 Stewart Avenue, while Veterans Services, UW-Extension and Conservation, Planning and Zoning (CPZ) will all be leaving countyowned buildings on River Drive in Wausau. Lake View Drive will also have office space for some of the staff from Administration, Human Resources and Finance.
The multiple department relocations are part of an overall plan to reduce county government’s “footprint” by consolidating several departments into fewer sites. Holman said a major $5 million project like the one at Lake View Drive isn’t likely to come along again for a number of years.
Another $5.6 million would be spent on road construction projects planned by the Highway Department. These include resurfacing jobs on CTHs J, C and T; bridge replacements on CTH O and CTH L, a culvert replacement on CTH J and a culvert extension on CTH U. The department’s request also includes roughly $3 million for repaving about 30 miles of county highways.
Parks, Recreation and Forestry is also proposing several projects at county parks, including campground improvements at the Dells of Eau Claire ($670,300), new bathroom/shower facilities at Big Eau Pleine ($468,100), a new bathroom facility at Cherokee ($81,400) and a new septic system at Nine-Mile Recreation Area ($273,320).
A couple of proposed projects at Marathon Park in Wausau are part of a West Side Master Plan approved earlier this year. One is a $390,000 renovation of East Gate Hall, a facility that is regularly rented out for weddings, reunions and other large events. The other involves improvements at the Marathon Junction area, including possible replacement of a playground and splash pad, for $120,000.
Other major projects include an upgrade of the central heating boiler at UW-Stevens Point-Wausau Campus ($372,000) and the final phase of an air conditioning chiller project at the Marathon County Library ($3 million). Holman said the cost of the chiller has gone up over $300,000 just in the last year since the project was first designed.
Board chairman Kurt Gibbs noted that almost $2 million worth of parks projects are being proposed, and he wondered if the county could start saving for that type of work using user fees as a revenue source.
“I think that would make more sense, longterm, for the county and the utilizers of those facilities,” he said. “That’s something I would be interested in seeing.”
County administrator Lance Leonhard said it makes “logical sense to do that,” pointing to the indoor ice rink facilities at Marathon Park as something that are “in dire need” of replacement. Moving forward, he would like to see a facilities replacement strategy that doesn’t rely as heavily on tax revenue and borrowing.
