Stratford public works committee ponders how to proceed with the historical museum lease
Members tour the museum to see what repairs and renovations need to occur
Members of the village of Stratford pubic works committee on Sept. 26 toured the Stratford Area Historical Society (SAHS) museum to discover what repairs the building needs. The village owns the building and leases it to the SAHS.
Dale Heil, chairman of the village public works committee, said after touring the museum that the village could possibly give SAHS a one-time endowment of funds it could use to repair the museum building. He said then the village should look into possibly transferring ownership of the building to the SAHS to simplify things in the future.
Heil and the other public works committee members, including Kevin Spaeth and Maryel Schoenfuss, plan to review the SAHS’s list of needed building repairs to figure out what the village can afford. The public works committee then plans to further discuss the SAHS museum lease at its end of October meeting.
Dr. Gwen Strampp, president of the SAHS, is seeking clarity from the village on whether it’s the responsibility of the village, which is the landlord, or the responsibility of SAHS, which is the tenant, to repair and replace items on the inside and outside of the museum building. She said the museum needs significant repairs to continue displaying relevant Stratford community historical artifacts for the public to see in the future. In other news:
The village public works committee approved a motion to open bids for the public to lease land available in the Stratford Business/Industrial Park for one year at a time. Greenberg Farms had a three-year lease with the village to use land in the business/industrial park for grazing cattle until the farm was recently sold. The public works committee plans to review the bids at its end of October meeting.
Members of the village public works committee approved a motion to open bids on timber sales with a closing date of Oct. 31. The village of Stratford is accepting bids for the harvesting of 65 acres of approximately 290 cords of pulpwood and 19,000 board feet of hardwood in Klemme Reserve. It is a winter only project that will require extreme caution with logging because Klemme Reserve is a high public use area.
Scott Dennee, Stratford director of public works, shared information on the possibility of engineer Clark Dietz installing solar panels so solar energy could help operate the village’s wastewater treatment plant in the future. Dennee said the wastewater treatment plant uses the most energy of any village building. He said there is a 30 percent rebate on these types of projects that save energy.
Dennee said the village of Stratford could wait to see how things go with the city of Wausau’s installation of solar panels to help operate its water treatment plant. Heil said more research needs to be done in the future before the village can make a decision.
The village public works committee echoed the village finance committee’s suggestion during its meeting on Sept. 25 that the village might need to raise resident sewer rates in the future to cover the increased cost of chemicals and supplies to operate the wastewater treatment plant. These are only preliminary discussions at this point and nothing has been decided yet.
Tom Zuelke attended the village public works committee meeting on behalf of the Stratford VFW, to propose its idea of getting businesses and private individuals to sponsor street pole banners to honor Stratford military veterans. Zuelke said he anticipates there not being more than 20 banners hung on Stratford’s streets, ideally from Memorial Day until Veteran’s Day. Stratford VFW would store the banners when they aren’t in use. Heil instructed Zuelke to figure out more details on the banners and then provide updated information at a future public works committee meeting in the coming months.
