Stratford prepares for street projects
By Kevin O’Brien
Stratford’s Public Works committee is recommending that the village award about $150,000 in bids to American Asphalt for resurfacing three sections of street later this year.
At its latest meeting on Feb. 25, the committee reviewed bids from American Asphalt of Mosinee and RC Pavers out of Schofield, which offered to do the work for $164,147. American Asphalt’s total bid was $160,151, but because the village awarded all three projects at once, the company was willing to deduct $10,500.
The village plans on having the contractor repave 985 feet of Monument Street, from Larch Street south to just before STH 153, along with two sections of Larch Street – 745 feet from STH 97 to Legion Street and 1,720 feet from Legion to Monument Street.
According to American’s bid, the company plans to mill the top 1.5 inches of existing asphalt and repave it to an average thickness of 1.75 inches. All together, about 12,200 square yards of new asphalt will be laid as part of the three projects.
DPW Scott Dennee noted that the village has $26,000 from a Local Road Improvement Project (LRIP) grant for the longer stretch of Larch Street, but because the project is over $65,000, the village will be required to spend about $5,000 for an engineer to observe the work being done.
Larch Street was chosen as an LRIP project because it only involves resurfacing the road, with no utility work needed, Dennee added.
Dennee said the village currently does not have any money set aside for the two non-LRIP projects, but he can use money from the annual street maintenance fund to cover the costs. That won’t leave any money for chip sealing this year, “but at least that whole stretch from 97 to Dahlkes will be done,” he said, referring to Larch Street.
Looking ahead, he said Legion and Legacy streets are the two roads most in need of major work.
“Obviously, those are our two worst roads, but they’re going to be $1.5 million roads probably, so we’re going to need grants to get them done,” he said.
Other business
■ The committee recommended the village accept an $8,200 offer from Frombach Construction to remodel the clerk’s office, with Dennee doing the drywall portion of the project.
■ The committee referred a proposed renovation of the police department garage to the Finance Committee to determine how to pay for the work. Dennee said the all-metal roof on the garage is actually in good shape, though one section of the seam needs to be fixed to stop a leak. The original scope of the project was expanded to include an insulated overhead door and a new service door.
■ The committee voted to update its new firewood permit to allow village taxpayers, as well as residents, to collect fallen timber in the Klemme Reserve, as long as they are “in good standing” with the village and do not owe any back taxes or other assessments. The permit application will also be amended to remind people not to transport the firewood out of Marathon County due to ongoing quarantines to prevent the spread of invasive species.
■ The committee recommended paying a $1,743 bill from Chad Schmitz of Merrill for marking timber in the Klemme Reserve. Heil said the proceeds from selling the timber will more than cover the cost, and “we’ll definitely make some money” from the sales. The village will wait until September to solicit bids for the timber that was harvested, he said.
■ In his report, Dennee said the village’s two mobile home courts removed a total of nine mobile homes that were no longer livable. He also noted that the village was planning on offering jobs to two people who have applied to fill vacancies in his department.
