By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer
HOWARD – The village board approved an agreement Monday, Oct. 25, to share a grant writer with the Village of Suamico and the Howard-Suamico School District.
The grant writer will research and apply for grants for the three units of government, which is based on a similar arrangement in place with the City of Waupaca, Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce and Waupaca School District.
Howard Village Administrator Paul Evert said he met with Suamico Village Administrator Alex Kaker and Howard-Suamico Superintendent Damian LaCroix and district staff to put together a job description and goals for the position.
It will start Jan. 1 for a two-year period with a third-year option.
“We shortened the initial term (from three years) to two years, which I think is probably a long enough run to see if this is successful,” Evert said.
He said the grant writer would be a school district employee and have an office there.
Of the position’s estimated $70,000 annual cost, which includes salary, benefits, training, equipment and other miscellaneous expenses, Evert said the cost would be shared 50% by the school district, 30% by Howard and 20% by Suamico.
He said the annual financial impact to Howard to pay for the position would be between $21,000 to $25,000.
“More than hopefully that ($21,000 to $25,000 a year) should be coming back to us, in hopefully some grants,” Village President Burt McIntyre said.
Evert said it cost more than $100 an hour when the village hired a firm to provide grant writing previously.
He said two MSA Professional Services employees working on the village’s Community Development Block Grant application to remove blight in Howard are being billed out at $125 and $105 per hour, which he said is typical.
Milltown Court
In other action, the board agreed to name a new cul-de-sac, which is being constructed as part of the State Highway 29/County VV interchange project, Milltown Court.
Public Works Director Geoff Farr said the western end of Milltown Road is being vacated, but two properties – Maplewood Meats and Maplewood Shell – will continue to have frontage on the cul-de-sac.
Farr said staff consulted with property owners about possible street names, with preferences being Milltown Court and Meat Place.
Board members overwhelming favored Milltown Court.
“My opinion is I don’t like Meat Place – sorry about that,” McIntyre said. “I think there’s better names out there somewhere.”
Trustee Ray Suennen agreed.
“I like the Milltown Court, because it’s been known in that area.” Suennen said.
Relocation order
The board approved a relocation order to reconstruct Evergreen Avenue from approximately 200 feet east of Linden Lane to the Glendale Avenue intersection.
Director of Engineering Mike Kaster said that section of Evergreen is scheduled for reconstruction next year with curb and gutter, sidewalk, storm sewer and sanitary sewer.
“The property that’s needed for the project is very minor in nature when it comes to this type of project,” he said. “We’ve got only three property owners that… (the village needs to) acquire right-of-way from them, and those are very small two-foot strips… so no large property needs there.”
Kaster said the property acquisition process typically takes four to five months.
Staff will then meet with property owners to discuss the project and the impact it could have on their yards.
Solid waste
Board members backed a new solid waste agreement with Brown County.
Farr said the contract is similar to the existing agreement with a 10-year initial term and five-year renewal terms with termination requirements.
“One of the new twists is we used to have a separate solid waste and recycling (agreement),” he said. “This combines them into one, so effectively you’re renewing the solid waste and the recycling agreement with Brown County.”
Farr said the new agreement was brought forward because the 10-year term on the existing agreement is nearing its expiration date.
A new landfill built in Brown County is also expected to be ready for operation next year to service Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago counties.
“We’ve had a long-term agreement between the three counties to share landfill costs, and it’s really saved the local municipalities millions and millions of dollars,” he said.
Farr said the new landfill, which is expected to last 16-18 years, will begin receiving waste from communities in the three counties as the landfill in Outagamie County is filled to capacity and closed.
He said the new landfill costs around $20 million, and to pay for it, the per-ton tipping fee is estimated to increase by around $12 over the next five years – from the current $43.84 per ton to $55.82 per ton in 2026 – when including the consumer price index.
Farr said the purpose of the agreement between the municipalities in Brown County is “to preserve the landfill use and to preserve low prices in the Brown County area.”