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Emotions run high at county board meeting
Citizens express displeasure with recent decisions
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A large group of citizens attended the most recent meeting of the Lafayette County Board of Supervisors held on Tuesday, May 19 in order to express their feelings on several decisions made by the board within the past several months.
    Emotions and feelings were running high as several citizens spoke during the public comment time at the beginning of the meeting.
    Suzi Osterday, director of the Darlington Chamber/Main Street program, applied to be on the agenda and spoke on how the community and the chamber had been disappointed lately with the actions and decisions of the county board, specifically mentioning the upcoming discontinuation of labor and delivery services at Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County (MHLC); the county’s decision to move the human services department out of the city building and into the recently purchased former Jafari Building on the outskirts of town; as well as the possible implementation of the wheel tax (which was later tabled during the meeting).
    Osterday noted that the community felt that these decisions were made without explanation or notice to the community and without consideration of what those decisions would mean for the area.
    Julie Chikowski, administrator of MHLC, who was present at the meeting attempted to explain the decision behind the closing of the hospital’s labor and delivery service, and also noted that the topic had been on the hospital’s agenda for several months and that the committee always welcomes public input.
    “The hospital is also a business and we want to be successful,” said Chikowski who noted that the number of births in recent years at the hospital were not conducive to continuing those services safely.
    When citizens protested that the hospital had been delivering babies for many years and had appeared to do a good job so far, Chikowski noted that just because that’s the way things have always been done, doesn’t mean that is the best way to continue, taking into consideration the safety of patients and financial strains of the county.
    Chikowski expressed frustration that the community only noted cuts and decreases in services at the hospital when there are other areas of the hospital that are growing and succeeding.
    County board members noted that the decision had come from the recommendation of the hospital committee, Chikowski and several other hospital professionals who felt that the decision was the best course of action at this time.
    “It’s sad, but I don’t see there being a huge influx of people of childbearing age to Darlington or Lafayette County now or in the future,” said county board chairman Jack Sauer.
    Tony Ruesga, Darlington citizen, also stated that the perception among many Darlington citizens was that the county board has recently been making decisions that will negatively affect the city of Darlington, including the decision to move the county’s human services department out of the Darlington Municipal Building and across town into a building recently purchased by the county.
    Sauer responded to those concerns by asking the audience if they were renting a house and had the opportunity to buy it, would they continue to rent or invest in a property they could call their own? Sauer also noted that in the long run the county will benefit from owning their own building, and while it may not benefit the city of Darlington in particular, it will end up being a benefit for the majority of the county’s citizens.
    When Ruesga asked for proof of those statements and why a study wasn’t completed to look into those results, Sauer became combative, shouting, “We don’t need to spend money on a study, I know the numbers because I have a calculator.”
    When Ruesga attempted to further his argument, Sauer cut him off, aggressively banging the gavel and saying, “I didn’t ask you to speak, I allowed you to and I don’t need you coming in here and talking about how smart you are.”
    Thus, the public comment period of the meeting was ended.

Village must meet phosphorous levels or find alternative
Gays Mills
gays mills village board

The Village of Gays Mills Board received a report on the status of the Wastewater Treatment Project from Evan Chambers, a project engineer at Town and Country Engineering.

The proposed new Wastewater Treatment Plant to be built in the village is planned, but cannot presently be built because of cost. Town & Country is working with the village to find  funding in grants and loans to build the plant.

While some new treatment plants built in the state can meet the latest very low level of phosphorous discharge required by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, others cannot. The treatment plant as proposed for Gays Mills will be a big step forward, but it will not include the filtration equipment to get to the required level.

With or without the completion of the treatment plant, Chambers pointed out the village will need to get credits for projects elsewhere in the area. These can be used as water trading credits to fulfill reducing phosphorous elsewhere to offset the amount the village cannot achieve at the current or future plant.

The village is seeking to renew its five-year variance with the DNR by using water trading credits from other projects it funds upstream from the plant.

Chambers Told the board they needed to sign up some new projects that might include rip-rapping streambanks to prevent soil erosion carrying phosphorous into the stream. Calculation of soil erosion reductions would show how much phosphorous is being kept out of the river and ultimately the village would get credit for reducing phosphorus with project to offset what is exceeding the current limit.

Chambers told the board he had soil sample lined up with potential partner and would know more soon.

“The village will need partnerships no matter what,” Chambers said.

Village trustees Art Winsor and Kevin Murray expressed concern that the partnerships would be a workable solution.

Winsor questioned, if figures obtained for the credits needed to comply with the lower phosphorus level requirements, were accurate. The trustee asked if was possible to overshoot with some sort of treatment and get more credits than needed.

Chambers explained, in the event that happened, the village could trade the extra phosphorus to another municipality that needed it.

Murray noted that the plant is no closer to being built than it was before the plant was created. He pointed out the cost of building the plant has skyrocketed year after.

In answer to a question, Chambers said the current cost to build the new sewer plant as designed is estimated to be $13 million and the village could not do it without getting 70% of cost financed by grants.

“You can’t get there without grant,” Chamber the engineer also noted that grant funding has dried up.

The variance the water trading credits obtain for the village keeps it going. Chambers said the village can’t afford to not get a variance and be found out of compliance and face large fines.

“We’re getting good results with what we’re doing,” Chamber told the board.

After some discussion trustee Larry McCarn made a motion to approve the Town & Country’s Scope of Service for the Final Phosphorous Report and Pollutant Minimization Plan. Winsor seconded the motion and the board passed the motion.

In other business, the Gays Mills Village Board:

 • approved Mara O’Brien as new lifeguard at the pool and learned the pool lost the services of two other lifeguards

• learned that Ray and Danielle Strong, the pool directors, will be available to serve as life guards

• heard that the plan is to open the pool on Saturday, June 7

• learned that the building inspector has been contacted to report on the nuisance properties at 200 Main Street and 208 Main Street

• approved a temporary Alcohol License for wine and beer for the Friends of Gays Mills for May 16 at the Community Commerce Center for the Alice in Dairyland event

• clarified the sewer hookup fee waive extension would be allowed for all hookups–not just for homeowners, who had filed an application with the village