2024: A Year in Review – Part II
This week, we continue our review of the important events of 2024 that shaped our community, looking at stories that were featured in the TRG in the latter half of the year. JULY July 3 — The Draper Hills Financial Literacy Program at the Loyal School District was recognized by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) for exceeding state expectations at the “Wisconsin Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy and Next Gen Personal Finance FiCamp” conference in Madison. The program was highlighted for its comprehensive approach, serving students in K-12 — rather than just high school students — and for mandating two trimester of Financial Literacy education for graduation, surpassing the one-semester requirement set by Act. 60.
July 10 — Rising waters led to washed out roads, particularly in the rural Greenwood and Willard areas, after a deluge of rain fell earlier in the week. Among roads that were either made impassable by flooding or closed due to damage were County Highway M south and west of Mead Lake, River Road/Sladich Road on the west edge of Greenwood and North Lake Road by Mead Lake Campground.
July 17 — Loghan Amborn, former agriculture teacher at Greenwood High School, had received the Outstanding Early Career Teacher award from the Wisconsin Association of Agricultural Educators (WAAE). Amborn was presented with the award at the WAAE Professional Development Conference held at the Oshkosh Waterfront Hotel and Convention Center June 23-27.
Amborn taught for seven years at the Greenwood High School before moving on to new ventures after the completion of the 2023-24 school year. The Greenwood School Board hired Jillian Lebal to fill the agriculture teacher position.
July 24 — Starting July 21, any vehicle weighing over 10 tons was required to take another route to avoid going over the bridge over County Highway G on the northwest end of Greenwood. Recent inspections of the bridge had found its condition had continued to deteriorate, prompting the state Department of Transportation (DOT) to reduce the weight restriction to 10 tons in order to keep the bridge open until it is replaced in the summer of 2025. Failure to comply with the restrictions would result in fines.
The project to replace the bridge over
Please see Year in Review, page 8 Year in Review,
from p. 1 the Black River on County Highway G was set to begin in 2025 on June 15 and be completed by Nov. 14. The cost to replace the bridge would amount to approximately $4 million.
July 31 — Due to a number of factors, the Spencer School District ended it 2023-24 budget year with an $800,000 surplus. At its July 17 meeting, the school board decided where to put the money, voting to transfer the funds from the General Fund to the Long Term Capital Improvement Trust Fund. By transferring all the funds, residents would have a mill rate of $9.19 per $1,000 of property value and the funds would be standing by ready for use for future maintenance projects.
The district had a surplus in funds due to an unexpected $190,000 increase in revenue, spending $100,000 less on open enrollments out of the district than anticipated, a $40,000 on health insurance when staff members opted to take cash in lieu of benefits, savings on gas and snow removal due to a mild winter and the district paying for its technology department through the district's remaining Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Funds.
AUGUST Aug. 7 — The Clark County Board of Supervisors voted to pass a resolution at its meeting to make Clark County a member of the Northwoods Rail Transit Commission (NRTC), a coalition of 21 counties in Wisconsin and Northern Michigan advocating for quality rail service in the region. Marathon County was the only county adjacent to Clark County that was already a part of the commission.
At the meeting, Sheila Nyberg, executive director of the Clark County Economic Development Corporation and Tourism Bureau (CCEDC) spoke on why it would be worth it for the county to join the coalition, citing a main goal to reactivate a roughly 27-mile stretch of rail from Spencer to Medford that had been abandoned, and to increase other railroad opportunities in the county.
Aug. 14 — The Greenwood School District was asking the community for donations to offset the costs of providing free meals to all its K-12 students. It had cost the district $40,000 to provide free lunch to all students in the 2023-24 school year, something that would not be financially feasible for the district to provide its students annually. In order to offset the $500 per student cost to feed a student each year, the district was asking families of students who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch to make a donation to the school lunch program in the range of $200 to $400. The school district had approximately 120 students who did not qualify for free or reduced lunch who ate school lunches regularly. If the district was not able to collect enough donations, it was likely that the free school lunch program for all students would not continue after the 2024-25 school year.
Aug. 21 — With the completion of a Highway 13 repaving project, the village of Spencer was discussing possible changes to the marking of the intersection between Highway 98/Highway C and Highway 13. A member of the Department of Transportation went out to the intersection to view the way the lanes were arranged and to come up with a better arrangement that made it safer for traffic and pedestrians. The recommendation to change the way the lanes were drawn was to be taken back to the DOT for review.
Aug. 28 — Doug Becker of Granton was named the Granton Honored Citizen of the year by the Granton FFA Alumni. He was to be honored during the Granton Fall Festival that was to be held Sept. 6-8. A 1986 graduate from Granton High School, Becker was selected for the award for his work to improve the Granton community over the years, from adding a new business to Granton to helping out during the Granton Fall Festival and providing activities for all ages during the event each year.
SEPTEMBER Sept. 4 — Fabreann Buffington was hired as the new Granton clerk/treasurer to replace former clerk/treasurer Emily Steinbach who had recently resigned. Buffington had taken up the position on Aug. 19 and had moved to Granton from Chetek, moving into the former Granton United Methodist Church with her husband to renovate the building into a residence Sept. 11 — Linda Becker of Granton was the recipient of the Granton First Responder's 'Friend of the First Responders' award. Becker, who had been one of the founding members of the Granton First Responders, had recently retired from being an active member and was honored by the group for her work over the years to make the Granton First Responders an effective group through helping with trainings and helping raise funds for needed equipment.
Sept. 18 — On the night of Sept. 12, a fire devoured three downtown buildings on Loyal's Main Street. When the fire was finally put out on the morning of Sept. 13, four families were displaced from their apartments and the laundromat, fitness center and food pantry were destroyed. However, no one was injured or killed in the fire.
The fire began at 232 N. Main St. in an apartment rented by Michael Conard behind the laundromat. By the time the fire department arrived on the scene at 7:39 p.m., everyone was evacuated from the buildings. The Loyal Fire Department, along with emergency crews from Central Fire, Chili, Granton, Greenwood, Owen-Withee-Curtiss and Spencer, battled the fire until almost 2 a.m. the next morning and firefighters remained on scene until midday Sept. 13.
Sept. 25 — Following the Sept. 12 fire, local organizations were raising funds and collecting supplies for all who were affected by the fire. The Loyal School District held a food drive to help restock the Loyal Food Pantry.
The combined student, staff and community donations were enough to fill the back of a pickup truck, with the donations being delivered to the food pantry on Sept. 24.
The Our Lady of Fatima Knights of Columbus Council 4963 and Wisconsin State Knights of Columbus Council also donated $400 to each family that had lost their homes in the fire.
OCTOBER Oct. 2 — The Spencer School Board approved its 202425 school budget at its Sept. 18 meeting. With a budget of $3,072,242.46, residents were to see an increase on the amount of money they would be paying on property taxes in the next year, as several factors contributed to the increased mill rate.
During its meeting, the board approved a $9.16 mill rate, which was an increase of 78 cents over the 2023-24 mill rate. The increase in the mill rate was expected with the 2024-25 budget, with three main factors affecting the budget. The things affecting the budget were an additional $525,000 residents had approved to add to the budget in an operational referendum passed back in 2022, an increase in the amount of state aid given to districts per pupil and an overall increase in property values in the area.
Oct. 9 — The Greenwood School Board unanimously voted to allow any residents of the Loyal School District the ability to use the Greenwood Fitness Center facilities through the end of 2025. The decision was made as a gesture of support to the residents of the city of Loyal following the Sept. 12 fire that had destroyed three buildings, including the city's fitness center.
Oct. 16 — Four Clark County public libraries were facing funding cuts due to a change in how the county planned to reimburse for items circulated. Libraries near the border of Clark and Marathon counties would see a significant reduction in funding for circulations to Marathon County library users if a finance committee's proposal was passed at the October county board meeting.
Under the proposal, the Abbotsford library would receive $17,681.17 less in county funding, the Colby library would receive $13,812.01 less in funding, the Dorchester library would receive $15,711 and the Granton library would receive $3,143.10 less in funding.
Oct. 23 — After a lengthy meeting, the Clark County Finance Committee settled on a new reimbursement rate that would prevent several county libraries from experiencing as dramatic of a reduction in their budget from 2024 to 2025. After much discussion and testimonies from several local librarians, the committee settled on an 85% reimbursement for Clark County circulations and 45% reimbursements for Marathon County circulations. These rates would still result in a budget shortfall for some libraries, although not as great as the previous proposal.
With the new proposal, Abbotsford would receive $11,142.22 less, Colby would gain $4,946.84, Dorchester would receive $10,953.68 less, Granton would receive $4,152.18 less and Owen would experience a loss of $883.86.
Oct. 30 — The Loyal volleyball team was named regional champions after winning over Eleva-Strum on Oct.
26. The win marked the first regional championship the Loyal volleyball program has won since 2006. Members of the 2024 volleyball team were Molly Zvolena, Hope Peroshek, Olivia Nikolai,Taya Rakovec, Jordynn Corder, Autumn Zvolena, Addison Wolf, Laila Prior, Mallory Jakobi, Pay ten Wolf and Annika Schley.
NOVEMBER Nov. 6 — The Marshfield Area Habitat for Humanity (MAHFH) recently dedicated their new Spencer build that had been completed on LaSalle Street in Spencer.
The Kerksieck family was the recipient of the new home and it was the first home that was built by MAHFH in the village of Spencer.
Nov. 13 — In a joint meeting of the Loyal and Greenwood school boards on Nov. 4, a fiscal consolidation analysis was presented by Elise Murn, a business specialist from Robert W. Baird and Company, on what district finances would look like if the Loyal and Greenwood school districts were to consolidate into one school district. Both boards were to have follow-up discussion on the presentation at their regular November board meetings.
In the presentation, focus was put on the potential school levy, mill rate and budget impact of a consolidated school district and what that would look like for the first five years of the district's operation. According to the findings, the Loyal and Greenwood school districts were comparable in the amount of students and budget, meaning that the two districts would be entering a consolidation in a near-equal partnership.
Nov. 20 — The Clark County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a new ordinance regarding hemp-derived cannabinoids. The ordinance aimed to reduce youth usage of mind-altering products that have been synthesized from legal hemp plants. The ordinance prohibits the sale or delivery of any hemp-derived cannabinoid product to a person under age 21; prohibits any person under the age of 21 from using or possessing any amount of a hemp-derived cannabinoid; requires that retailers first verify a person's age by checking a valid photo ID before selling or providing a hemp-derived cannabinoid product; and prohibits the sale of hemp-derived cannabinoids within 750 feet of youthserving organizations such as, but not limited to, child care centers, schools, playgrounds, city or county parks, etc. Failure to comply with the new ordnance would result in a fine up to $500 per violation.
Nov. 27 — The Greenwood Common Council voted to change the intersection of School Street at Main Street/ Highway 73 to be right turn only. Drivers coming from School Street were only allowed to turn south onto Main Street/ Highway 73, not north. Drivers also could not go straight across to access the Kwik Trip parking lot. The change to the intersection was made in an attempt to cause safer traffic flow in the area, as a few accidents had occurred at that intersection as a result of poor visibility.
Motorists failing to follow the right turn only destination would receive a traffic citation.
DECEMBER Dec. 4 — The Greenwood Police Department would be experiencing a change in command as Chief Bernie Bock would retire at the end of December to pursue other ventures after 25-and-a-half years at Greenwood. Bock would turn over his position as chief to Andrew Kohnert, who had been a member of the Greenwood Police Department since 2008. Kohnert would officially take over duties as chief on Jan. 1 and the Greenwood City Council would look to hire another officer to replace Kohnert at his former position.
Dec. 11 — Gov. Tony Evers appointed Kerry Kirn as the new Clark County Sheriff. The appointment filled a vacancy being created by Sheriff Scott Haines' retirement, which he had announced back in September.
Haines would retire as of Dec. 31 and Kirn would complete the remainder of the unexpired term that ends January 2027. Kirn had been a member of the Clark County Sheriff's Department since 1991 and had been serving as the county's detective captain at the time of the appointment.
Dec. 18 — The Loyal and Greenwood school boards voted to approve asking residents in their respective communities an advisory question on whether or not to consolidate during the April 2025 election. The question to be asked on the ballot was to be finalized before Jan. 20 and would ask residents whether or not they would support the two districts consolidating and forming one district.
Dec. 25 — The Greenwood School Board decided to wait on voting on a potential basketball co-op with the Granton School District until its January meeting. The proposed basketball co-op would begin in the 2025-26 school year and the board felt that more discussion with the community, players and coaches was needed before making a decision.
