Committee hears developer plan for town-road connections, DOT work offer and equipment, budget updates
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Summary
The committee reviewed a developer's proposal for residential lots with town-road connections in the Town of Rome, discussed a DOT request for a crack-filling cost estimate, heard that the county'DOT RMA was overdrawn by $238,000, and received an equipment incident report and project-status updates.
At its meeting, the Adams County Highway Committee heard a developer presentation about access for a planned residential subdivision and received multiple departmental updates on maintenance work, crack-filling, equipment failures and budget status.
Developer access and platting: County staff (Unidentified County Staff, S3) told the committee the roads shown on the site map for the Newtown Road area are intended to be town roads, not private driveways, and that the Town of Rome has indicated it intends to take ownership after the developer builds them to town-road standards. Jack Acres, who identified himself as representing Secluded Land Company, said he rezoned the parcel from forestry to RR1, has slowed plat preparation to align with approvals and expects to submit a preliminary plat in March. "My name is Jack Acres. I'm with Secluded Land Company," he said during the presentation.
Crack-filling and DOT coordination: Staff described recent contact with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Wood County declined to perform crack-filling work that had been planned to extend into Adams County; the DOT then asked Adams County to provide a cost estimate for about 1.7 miles of town-road crack filling. Staff said the county will prepare cost estimates and the DOT will decide whether to award the projects.
RMA overage and budget status: County staff reported the county'DOT RMA (maintenance agreement) was overdrawn by $238,000 this season. "The RMA took a pretty good hit. It it took it right on the chin this year. We were over on the RMA $238,000 we were over," S3 said. Staff said the DOT covers the services provided under the RMA, but the region saw similar overruns and the county will work with administration and finance to address the overage carried into 2026.
Equipment and incident report: Staff described a recurring failure on a Monroe-built truck spreader (a belt-over-chain drive that has failed multiple times) and said a replacement part has a six- to eight-week lead time; a spare truck is being used in the meantime. Staff also recounted a January incident in which a rim fractured, the vehicle left the roadway and struck a parked car; the county reported the incident to insurance and the sheriff's office and said no one was injured.
Other items: Staff reviewed project status updates (County Z work closed out for 2025, County J bridge project still finalizing invoices), facility corrections following a fire inspection (expired emergency-exit light batteries and power-strip daisy-chaining were addressed; an electrician will install a four-plex outlet for radio equipment) and routine winter maintenance activity.
Votes at a glance: agenda approval (motion carried), minutes approval (motion carried), resolution supporting long-term sustainable transportation funding (motion carried). The transcript does not include a roll-call tally for these votes.
What happens next: staff will provide DOT cost estimates for crack-filling, meet with administration and finance about the County Z budget and overage, and the developer expects to return with a preliminary plat in March.