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Highway commissioner reports paving progress, staffing changes and grant talks with LCO
Summary
The highway commissioner briefed the Sawyer County Public Works Committee on recent mowing, paving, culvert replacements, staffing updates and a potential 100% design grant with LCO for a County Road K roundabout.
Sawyer County's highway commissioner reported ongoing maintenance and construction work across the county, staff changes and a potential partnership with Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) to fund design for a roundabout on County Road K.
"We completed all the mowing on the state and county systems and we've moved on to Brushy," the Highway Commissioner said, summarizing recent work that also included crack sealing, mastic work for the town of Hunter, culvert replacements on County CC and paving on County B. The commissioner reported bridge-approach work, assistance to neighboring counties following equipment problems, and a nearly complete sign replacement program under a state contract.
The commissioner said the county had opened a right-of-way purchase for County D and completed paving of a short section of County B that required only a one-night closure. He also said the county created an on-call phone rotation this week to replace the previous 24/7 patrol supervisor coverage; employees will carry the phone one week at a time and receive extra pay for the on-call week.
He reported personnel changes: Rick Schmidt has started as the county's new maintenance director and could not attend the meeting, and Jason Prince was hired as patrol supervisor and "started on Monday." The highway commissioner said the department is now fully staffed.
On intergovernmental work, the commissioner said he is pursuing a partnership funding opportunity with LCO for a design grant for County Road K that would fund 100% of design. He said if the county secures construction funding later, the county would drop its design application to avoid duplication.
No formal action was taken on the highway report. The committee approved the minutes of the Aug. 13 meeting by motion of Randy Newman, seconded by Jim Evans; the motion carried with an affirmative voice vote recorded as "Aye."
