By KAREN PARKER | County Line Publisher Emeritus
At Monday’s Ontario Village Board meeting, it appeared that the road to recovery from the August 2018 flood will continue to be a bumpy ride.
On the good-news side, the USDA will offer a combination of grants and loans to supply water and sewer to the 34-acre Taylor property, which is located on the south side of Ontario and was purchased by the village for housing and a light commercial development. The USDA will provide the village with $253,000 in grants and a $258,000 loan for water development and $258,000 in grants and $156,000 in loans for sewer development.
In addition, the village received $25,000 to cover the cost of having Vierbicher, an engineering firm, search for grants for the various projects.
On the downside, a grant application to Community Development Block Grant by Community Development (Dale Klemme of Prairie du Chien) to build a seven-unit apartment on the schoolhouse hill (Church Street) was denied as too “excessive in cost,” and the 69 percent of the total cost was not justifiable.
Some board members suggested that the decision was not made with the understanding of the current escalating cost of lumber and materials and that application may be made again later this year.
An application to purchase the former MECA Sportswear building was also denied as “too conceptual and not shovel ready.”
Meanwhile, tearing down the Ontario Community Hall hit a snag when asbestos was discovered between the roof and the ceiling and will require abatement.
The bid had been awarded to Minocqua Grading LLC, which is asking an additional for $7,245. That brought the total bid within striking distance of ones offered earlier this year by Kendall Trucking, Plumbing and Excavating and Crowe Construction of Ontario.
There was some discussion among board members to rebid the job, while others opined that Kendall Trucking, Plumbing and Excavating already had too many contingencies that could bring the price up, and, furthermore, if the project were to be completed by June 1, then rebidding would slow that down.
“Call it a change order,” argued board president Mark Smith, and that ended the matter.
On a related note, the board reviewed a sign prepared by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that will commemorate the site of the Ontario Community Hall. The signage was required by FEMA and the State Historical Society and will cost $7,385. It will be 24-by-36 inches. While board members had no objection to the proposal, they agreed to put it out for public comment for a month. The sign can be reviewed in this paper and on the village’s website.
Other business
• Meghan Bemis informed the board she was interested in operating a mobile barbershop one day a week in Ontario. The business would deal primarily in haircuts only and she would operate from a self-contained tiny house, currently being constructed. She is currently a beautician at D.V. Hair, located behind the Dorset Valley Restaurant in rural Wilton. Several locations were considered, and Bemis was asked to come back to the board next month when she is closer to opening the business.
• Eric Peterson of MSA Engineering presented proposed flood maps for the village. The current maps are 10 years old and do not delineate the floodplain. Peterson said that despite the removal of dams and the changes in climate, the flood plain has changed little, according to his calculation. The only changes of any significance are along Brush Creek, while the downtown area would have little change. Peterson said he was confident the DNR would accept the MSA mapping, although they are slated to redo the entire area’s maps in a short time. But he seemed less certain if the maps would be accepted by FEMA.
• Police Chief Dave Rynes said he has been enforcing the dog licensing rules but not the two-dog limit per household. He noted that Monroe County allows six dogs. Rynes said he would prefer to apply his efforts to registration and therefore rabies vaccination than to force pet owners to reduce the herd size, especially if there are no complaints from neighbors.
• ATV signage is being completed now and the cost will be paid by the Kendall Mustang ATV/UTV Club.
• Some homes in the village are operating without water and sewer, and Rynes asked permission to speak with the building inspector on the matter,
• The village reservoir must be drained and cleaned at a cost of $3,250.
• The board discussed hooking up Wi-Fi in Firemen’s Park. Reportedly it is well used by tourists who don’t have US Cellular and therefore don’t get decent cell reception. However, according to clerk Terri Taylor, the Ontario Community Club was to pay the cost at $120 per month, but that payment has not been made to date.
• About half of the flood-damaged properties on the buyout list have settled with FEMA and are in the process of transferring ownership to the village. All sustained significant damage in the August 2018 flood.