Ayres makes county whole with settlement for dam grants

The project to replace the county-owned dam and spillway at Chelsea Lake got underway last week with construction crews on site for the work.

On Friday, Ayres Associates President Bruce Ommen was at the Taylor County Forestry and Recreation committee presenting the county with a check for $30,000 to settle up with the county over an error that cost the county getting a grant for the Chelsea Lake and Camp 8 dam projects back in 2020.

At the time, the project engineer from Ayres missed the deadline for submitting the completed plans which cost the county points knocking them out of contention to receive the grant funds.

The decision was made to wait and resubmit in the 2022 grant cycle and go through the bidding process before negotiating any sort of settlement to make the county whole.

The county was successful in getting grant funding to cover 50% of the cost of the two dam projects. Unfortunately, in the intervening time, the cost of the projects went up and the county began negotiations with Ayres.

Ommen presented the check to the committee to honor their agreement and to extend his apologies to the county for the error that caused this to happen. He said the county has been a great client of Ayres over the years and hoped the relationship could continue.

He also praised county attorney Ruth Ann Koch and forest administrator Jake Walcisak for their work in helping reach a settlement on the issue.

“Thank you very much for your cooperation in resolving this. To me it means a lot that you came here in person,” said committee chairman Scott Mildbrand.

County Board Chairman Jim Metz also praised Ayres, noting he has known them for a long time and that it means a lot for them to come in person over the issue.

“You stood behind your word,” Metz said. Walcisak also praised the company noting that every interaction with them both before and after the error has been “exceptional.” “Everything has been very professional and timely,” he said, noting he is glad they have been able to continue a positive professional relationship.

“The county has been made whole,” Walcisak said of the settlement that was reached.

Staffing

Taylor County’s forestry department will stay at two full time staff.

Committee members approved on a 4-1 vote with Rollie Thums opposed, to move forward with hiring a replacement for assistant forest administrator Jordan Lutz whose last day with the county was July 7.

Lutz left the county for a private sector job with a company that works to secure carbon credits.

Walcisak said that under a recent county finance and personnel policy change they began the process to seek a replacement for Lutz prior to the regular meeting with it on the agenda for committee approval.

Walcisak said the pay range for the position was between $26.79 and $31.52 per hour. He said in working with the county’s human resources director, they are offering it as a range to allow applicants to know there is room for negotiation on wages.

The position’s wages and benefits are paid through a combination of logging revenues and through a state grant which comes from state timber sale revenues. The grant covers 50% of the wages and 40% of the benefits for the position provided the person hired has a forest management degree.

“It is a tough hiring environment,” Walcisak said, noting that all levels from the federal, to the state and private sectors there is a struggle to find someone. He noted that when Lutz was hired six years ago there were 28 applicants. The plan is to keep the hiring opening until July 17 and do interviews July 24 with the hope of having someone in place by around August 14.

Thums questioned the need to replace the position at all, noting that there was talk last year of reducing the department by one person. “Is it time to look at it a different way?” Thums asked, noting that they could make the cut due to attrition.

Walcisak said that information brought forward during the budget discussions last fall showed there was ample need for two positions. He said that on a per managed acre basis, Taylor County is running leaner than most other county forests in the state. He said that the timber program itself takes 1.35 FTE to run and the remainder is the recreation, grant writing, wildlife and other duties. He also noted that paying a consulting forester, while an option, would be quite a bit more expensive than having a staff member do the work.

Walcisak praised Lutz’s effort and accomplishments within the department over the past six years.

“I have talked with loggers and they have nothing but praise for him,” said committee member Jim Gebauer.

In the end, committee members voted 4-1 to go ahead with the hiring process.

In other business, committee members:

  Discussed opportunities for improving fish habitat and recreational access to the Camp 8 flowage as part of the dam replacement project there. Private conservation groups have expressed interest in partnering with the project. As part of the project, the flowage is being drawn down over a 30-day period at 6 inches per day to close to the original stream bed and some deep holes. Possible projects include doing tree drops where entire trees are dragged out into the lake to provide habitat areas. Other projects will include additional fish cribs and a new floating fishing pier which will improve shoreline fishing. Dewatering on the project will begin on July 20. Substantial completion is expected by the third week in September.

  Received an update on logging sales. Crews are taking advantage of dry weather to get into what would otherwise be wet areas for logging in the forest with an uptick in forest activity in the second quarter. “Quarter 2 is picking up so it is good for the county,” said Lutz.

  Approved applying for a sustainable forest grant to do continued clean up of the county forest’s nearly 100 miles of logging roads which were impacted by last winter’s snow and ice storms. The grant will allow the county to capture $3,200 in additional funds from the state.

  Approved a formal resolution to use land acquisition funds to purchase 119.8 acres of privately owned land within the county forest boundaries at a cost of $263,560. The purchase is contingent on the county board approving the purchase and the county getting Knowles Nelson Stewardship funds to cover half of the purchase price. The land is currently in the managed forest land program. Thums voted against the land purchase.