Wilton facilities to remain closed for now

By SARAH PARKER | County Line Editor

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Wilton’s public facilities, including the swimming pool and the community center, will remain closed, probably until at least the June village board meeting, the board decided at its meeting Monday.

The village’s campground, playground, basketball court and bathhouse also will be shuttered to the public for the time being.

The decision was based in part on the lack of village staff to frequently sanitize those facilities.

Board approves raises for ambulance service

The Wilton Ambulance Service members will get the following raises as of Jan. 21, 2021: drivers, $20 to $25; first responders, $25 to $30; and EMTs, $30 to $40 for transports to Tomah, Sparta or Hillsboro. If the ambulance takes a patient to Viroqua, La Crosse or Mauston, each staff member gets $10 extra.

Additionally, the “loaded” mileage rate, which refers to the time frame when an ambulance contains a patient, will go up from $10 per mile to $12 per mile.

The non-transport fee (when an ambulance responds but does not transport a patient) will increase from $125 to $200.

The per capita rate, which is what the Village of Wilton bills the other municipalities it serves, will remain at $10 for each resident.

Other business

• Although the board had been under the impression that its façade-improvement program could be administered indefinitely, president Tim Welch recently learned that it would need to end with the termination of the village’s Tax Increment Financing project.

Therefore, July 15 is now the deadline to get funds from the program, which offers packages of 50 percent grants and 50 percent loans.

So far, only one downtown business owner, Alvis Strazdins, has applied for program funds, which he will use to paint the building next to his shop, Strazdins’ Jewelry Studio, Welch said.

• The board hired TEC to do $30,090 worth of manhole repairs, plus it will ask the company to replace a defunct fire hydrant at Center and Mill streets and possibly repair two hydrants that work but whose mechanisms are faulty.

Welch noted that repairing the manholes will mean less stormwater will get into the village’s sanitary sewer, thus the operation of the wastewater lagoon system will improve.

• Jeff and Vicki Von Haden, owners of the Hitchin’ Post, a downtown bar and restaurant, requested and received forgiveness for the cost of three licenses: cabaret, beer garden and mechanical devices. In all, the licenses cost $150.

Like other bars and restaurants, the Hitchin’ Post has been restricted to carryout service only since Gov. Evers’ Safer at Home executive order took effect on March 17.

Reading a letter to the board, Vicki Von Haden said, “Since our mandated closing 54 days ago, our business has seen a 43 percent decrease in March, a 74 decrease in April, and, so far in May, we have seen a 77 percent decrease in food and beverage sales, yet our fixed bills are still there.”

Also, the bar has had to cancel several events, including live music, plus it has lost income it would usually generate from gambling and jukebox machines.

“This brings our total estimated income loss to date in excess of 80 percent,” Von Haden said.

She later added, “With the current overhead and the rising cost of our products due to supply shortages throughout the U.S., it is not financially feasible for us to remain open much longer. We are doing the best we can to remain open and to provide a service to Wilton. However, the longer this pandemic drags on, the more likely it is that we will have to completely close until this is over.”

• The board will get quotes on repairing the swimming pool roof.

• The slats in the storm-drain gates near the community center are too wide and hazardous for bike riders, noted Public Works Director Steve Laufenberg. The village will replace those two grates, along with a faulty manhole lid on Highway 71, for $804.

• The village will extend curb and gutter to wellhouse No. 3 to prevent drainage problems on the village ball diamond. The project will cost $1,300.

• The village is in an agreement to provide privacy shrubbery between Hillside Cemetery and an adjoining private property. The shrubs are dying, so the village will look into constructing a private fence between the two properties.

• Open book is set for Aug. 27.

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