Washington County Public Works Committee members heard an update on the county’s roadway shared-services program and discussed a resident’s safety concerns about a state-managed intersection.

Josh, the highway presenter, told the committee the shared-services program began in discussions in 2023 and took effect in 2024, with about $452,000 currently dedicated to it. He said the arrangement covers county highway labor and equipment only, while municipalities pay for materials such as culverts and aggregate. “There’s about 452,000 dedicated to shared service,” Josh said.

The presenter described how distribution of the funds has changed since the program’s start: the first year split funding 70% on road mileage and 30% as an equal share, the following year moved to a pure mileage-based formula, and more recent adjustments pulled a portion back from the program. Early years of the program ran close to budget; staff reported first-year underspend of less than $52 and second-year variance of about $400 against a roughly $460,000 pool.

A committee member asked why the pot decreased from roughly $400,000 to about $320,000. Staff said some municipalities used other shared services and that an advisory committee of municipal representatives debated and set the allocation percentages. “The county was not sitting at that table. We had provided the money, and they collected their own chairman,” a staff member said, adding that Supervisor Hartwig had been present for the committee deliberations.

A speaker raised a safety complaint about the River Road intersection at State Highway 33, saying multiple crashes had occurred and that the intersection’s signs were confusing: “If you’re standing in the middle of the intersection … you will see 7 different ‘do not enter’ signs,” the speaker said. The speaker asked whether the county—because it provides shared-services funding—should have influence over local construction decisions.

County staff responded that the intersection project was a state-funded and state-managed project on State Highway 33, limiting county and municipal input when the state is the project lead. Staff said they would bring the matter to the county’s traffic safety commission, where the Wisconsin Department of Transportation regularly attends, to seek a face-to-face response from DOT representatives. Scott, who coordinates traffic safety matters, confirmed the traffic safety commission meets the first Wednesday in March at 9 a.m. in the Iowa shop.

The committee did not take formal action on the intersection during the meeting; members agreed to pursue the issue with the traffic safety commission and the DOT.

The committee also recognized patrol superintendents Chad Hartman (West Bend shop) and Pat Schmidt (Slinger shop) for their role coordinating shared-services projects with local public works directors.

The committee moved on to other agenda items and adjourned.