Mayor Dick Johns could barely wait for the Rhinelander City Council’s finance and wage committee meeting last night to end.
He beckoned to the media attending the meeting, had them gather around, and announced the good news: Rhinelander has been awarded $16 million in grants for its new wastewater project: $13.76 million for improvements to the new wastewater treatment on Hwy. 17 S., and $2.7 million for the force main construction.
“We took a gamble earlier this year,” Johns said, “and authorized Town and Country Engineering to meet the time commitments required for the grant, and it’s paid off. The grant is a result of the cooperation of all the city departments, Town and Country, Rep. Dave Obey’s office and the governor’s office, all cooperating.”
Johns said the wastewater project “goes back three years, when we were ordered by the state – the DNR – to upgrade the facility, and since then it’s been figuring out how to do it.”
The mayor got the news directly from the governor’s office in the morning. He hadn’t expected to hear back so soon on the grant application. “It was a surprise to me to see the governor’s signature there, authorizing to release the news.”
Gov. Jim Doyle broke the news yesterday in a speech at Two Rivers, announcing $103 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds for clean water infrastructure projects throughout the state. Statewide, about $206 million will be spent on water infrastructure projects. Green Bay, Milwaukee, Evansville, Menasha, Baldwin, Two Rivers, Appleton, Superior and Middleton are some of the other cities receiving funds.
Rhinelander’s new facility will cost about $32 million, Johns said. “By Sept. 3 we’ll put the project out on bid, and by the first week of October we’ll be ready to roll.”
City finance business
Alderman terms and payment: The finance and wage committee approved of making four-year staggered terms for the city’s aldermen and voted for upping the payment for attending committee meetings from $30 to $45 each meeting ($10 extra for the chair person), and keeping the regular council meeting at $75/meeting. The mayor, who is not on the council, likewise will be reimbursed for attending meetings. The new reimbursement levels will begin April 2010, after elections.
Johns noted that the council hasn’t voted itself a raise since 2001. Chair Mark Pelletier said, “Now is the time to do a raise. If we don’t change it now, it will be harder later.”
Public access television programming for the city: The city was approached by WPEG.net to provide programming for a public access channel for the city. Jim Lillis of WPEG.net, attending the meeting, said the equipment outlay for a channel would cost from $32,000 to $38,000 and that his company “would absorb the cost of this, according to the contract.”
Pelletier noted the contract also specified a price increase to the city, “so this would not be absorbing the cost, but a trade in cost, not a savings for the city,” he said.
Committee member Sherrie Belliveau said she had pursued possible partnerships with community entities. “Nicolet College and the school district have expressed interest, but we would need a commitment.”
Committee member Alex Young said, “without a partnership with someone, it would be a hard sell to the community. And we would hope we’d get a couple of competing proposals. Without the rest of the county o board money-wise, we’d have a tough time selling this.”
Johns said, “I’ve been talking to people and I haven’t heard anyone in the community wanting this. And we already have a cable company [Charter Communications] in bankruptcy.”
The committee voted to deny approval of public access television programming for the city until a partnership with another group could be found for sharing costs.
Aquatic Invasive Species Grant Application: The committee voted its approval for applying for a grant that would fund a program to protect the Wisconsin River and surroundings from AIS.
The application, prepared with the help of UW-Extension agent Dan Kuzlik, is for a program costing $34,904, with $26,178 coming from state grant money. The project would be conducted through a three-way partnership of Rhinelander, Newbold and Pine Lake, with the AIS inspection period running from May through October 2010.
