Substation back in good working order

Cadott Village Board

All is well with a Cadott substation, after a recent test by Energis, determined a problem with battery and infrared (IR) sensors. Rolly Tichy, director of public works, discussed the matter Feb. 3, at a regular Cadott Village Board meeting.

Tichy said last February, tests showed that Celsius temperatures ran 13.5 to 14.4 on disconnects at the substation.

“Because, they really (disconnects) shouldn’t be heating,” he said.

With corrosion from elements, the temperatures had jumped up dramatically this year, from 34.8 to 56.1. The range to go by is 1-10 being minor, 11-20 intermediate, 2140 severe, while above 40 is critical.

Since Chippewa Valley Electric Cooperative (CVEC) had someone in the area, Tichy asked what the service person thought should be done.

“Basically, what it boils down to…it sounded like get on it right away,” said Tichy.

After a quick consultation with village president Anson Albarado, Tichy gave CVEC the go-ahead to fix the substation for around $2,700.

Russ Falkenberg, village trustee and CVEC director of IT, gave credit to Tichy for jumping on the matter right away.

“Anytime you’ve got resistance in a current flow, you have heat,” said Falkenberg. “If you would have just ignored it and let it go, the next thing that would have happened, eventually, is the switch would have fallen apart.”

Falkenberg says that would have caused the transformer to have a lot of issues.

“You did a very good thing and I guess I just want to stress that,” said Falkenberg. “The preventative measures we’re doing, they pay for themselves.”

Village trustee Les Liptak asked what can be done about preventing the corrosion. Tichy said there’s really nothing to be done, as the disconnects are out in the elements.

“That’s why we have a yearly maintenance thing with Energis to take a look at that,” said Albarado.

Tichy also mentioned the village doesn’t have the equipment to test on their own, nor does CVEC, but says the situation will be monitored.

“We’re back in good shape now,” said Tichy.

Also discussed, was the Chilson Motors expansion on State Hwy 27 and County Hwy. X, that has been in the works

See CADOTT VILLAGE BOARD/ Page 3 for some time. Ayres Associates, engineers in charge of the project, have been in contact with Cedar Corp., the village’s representative for the project.

Len Schreiber, Cedar Corp., says the project’s site and building plans have been submitted for the end of March, with Ayres asking the village for approval.

“We don’t have a developer’s agreement yet in place,” said Schrieber, stating that everything has been halted on his end until that is received.

Schreiber also said the WisDOT is concerned about future access with the planned driveway, with no dedicated rightof- way.

“The DOT is not in favor of the plan the way it sits,” said Schreiber.

Previously, Ayres informed the village they would do the project without village help, but the village still needs to bring a water main to the property, something they can’t do without the aforementioned agreement.

“We’ll help all we can, but if you don’t want our help, don’t keep bringing it back to us,” said Albarado.

Randy Kuehni, village trustee, says he wants Chilson’s to expand and isn’t against them, but is confused as to the methods used.

“I don’t understand why our engineer…is doing all this work,” said Kuehni.

Schreiber says he was involved before, so he contacted everyone who had previously been in the talks.

“We are not a player right now,” he added.

Albarado said it all comes back to needing a developer’s agreement before the village can move forward with anything.

“Enough hammering on that,” he said.

During the village meeting, members were also approached from representatives from Cadott Youth Baseball, who last year, asked to help improve the dugouts at the park field.

“I think they really turned out nice,” said Todd Rykal of the improvements made. “Our committee still wants to make more improvements to the community baseball fields.”

Rykal says the league wants to keep making a better experience for youth coming up in baseball and wants to stay on the same page with the village.

To that end, the youth league wants to fix the current batting cage at the bus barn and pour a concrete pad over there, as well as adding at least one more batting cage. The cost would be paid for by the league, with donations from local businesses and work completed by volunteers.

They also want to build dugouts at the bus barn.

“…It’s a huge difference to get out of the sun, to get out of the rain a little bit,” said Rykal.

An agreement was also requested, on the use of the building by the bus barn, where the youth league would have access to have a concessions stand there, running May 1 through July 31. Rykal says they would pay utilities, rent and maintain the building.

If the building was needed for softball tournaments, Rykal says they would move the youth things out of there.

“We just really want an area to store this stuff, so that we’re not constantly trying to run…get hotdogs,” he said. “It’s just that kind of stuff.”

“Would they have to rent it?” asked village trustee Bart Chapek. “Seems to me like they’re using it for what we wanted it used for.”

Members agreed to refer the matter to the Parks Committee, to reach an understanding of what is expected.

“I don’t believe we won’t have a consensus on the board to do this,” said Liptak.

The board also discussed the village office/police department building facade. Chief of police Louie Eslinger talked about re-doing the sidewalk from the village office across to the police department.

“People are tripping and we do have a lot of elderly,” said Eslinger.

His idea was also to install a rail by the village parking lot and make it up to code for handicapped accessibility, as well as a sidewalk leading up to it.

“While we’re doing that, we’re also looking at the front of the building,” said Eslinger.

The exterior paint is peeling and there are rust spots on the door, which are in need of curbside appeal. Eslinger says they could also possibly side the south side, across to the north of the building.

Construction materials would be purchased within the community, as well as installing lights by the parking lot and maybe changing out some windows. Eslinger also wants handicapped accessible push-button entry for the village offi ce and police department.

Members agreed to set up a committee before producing a proposal for the board.

As a reminder, residents are to clean snow away, and off, any fire hydrants on their property.