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New director at Opportunity Center A new director is getting settled in at the Opportunity Center. George Hendricks took over from Tom Remis on Sept. 25, and is in the process of moving back to his hometown of Prairie du Chien. "We've been trying to relocate back here for the past seven years and the opportunity presented itself," said Hendricks, who is moving here with his wife Vicky, who is also from the Prairie du Chien area. "It feels good to move back." Hendricks, who received his bachelor of business administration degree from UW-Stout, has worked for the Menasha Corporation for the past 18 years. He was the operations manager of the folding carton plant, which is part of the printing portion of the corporation. "This is a different type of role and I really do enjoy it," said Hendricks about his new position at the Opportunity Center. "Working with our clients is very rewarding to me." Hendricks said that his main goals at the center are, "to promote the quality of life for people with developmental disabilities and their families and to ensure and enhance the service requirements to meet the needs of our clients." A new undertaking at the Opportunity Center that will generate extra income is the addition of a new warehouse. Hendricks said that the new facility is near completion and is scheduled to be ready for operation by Jan. 1, 2007. He said that the 130 x 70-foot building will be a "third party" warehouse in which area companies will store some of their inventory. When that inventory is needed, the Opportunity Center will transport it to the company.Sanitary sewers and street maintenance topped the discussion list at last week's Committee of the Whole meeting following the Nov. 21 Council meeting. Several residents of East Brunson Street, who were forced to hook up to sewer and water when the East Side utility project was completed, appeared to appeal the $1,000 in fees charged for hookup in addition to the actual assessment. Jerry Matousek and Jerry Ostrander addressed the committee, and said they were not complaining about the assessment costs themselves, but had been told there would be no additional costs. "We thought we knew all the fees," said Ostrander, but we were shocked by this." Although several members expressed sympathy for the misunderstanding, the committee declined to recommend a waiver. "We have to stick by the ordinance," said Jack Kluesner, "That's what we've been charging everyone else." Proposed changes in the 2007 sanitary sewer ordinance were also presented by Greg Huza, engineer with Blackhawk Engineering, a primary consultant for the city. The main changes, said Huza, are that if someone dumps something into the sewer and clogs it, that individual would be responsible for costs of clearing it. Also, the hookup fee has been increased from $250 to $500 and the basic fee raised to $30 per quarter. The average sanitary sewer bill, he said, would increase by about 10 percent. When asked if adjacent communities using sewer services could be charged more, Huza said the Town of Prairie du Chien was tied to the city's rate, but the Bridgeport agreement comes up in the spring and can be renegotiated then. He said the two represent 10 percent or less of the total sewer usage. As part of the city's capital improvement plan, Huza said he had met with all street department employees and would like to see some changes made in the future. Huza said he would like to increase street maintenance, but "we spend about 70 percent of our Street, sewer issues top Committee of the Whole discussion Sanitary sewers and street maintenance topped the discussion list at last week's Committee of the Whole meeting following the Nov. 21 Council meeting.Several residents of East Brunson Street, who were forced to hook up to sewer and water when the East Side utility project was completed, appeared to appeal the $1,000 in fees charged for hookup in addition to the actual assessment. Jerry Matousek and Jerry Ostrander addressed the committee, and said they were not complaining about the assessment costs themselves, but had been told there would be no additional costs. "We thought we knew all the fees," said Ostrander, but we were shocked by this." Although several members expressed sympathy for the misunderstanding, the committee declined to recommend a waiver. "We have to stick by the ordinance," said Jack Kluesner, "That's what we've been charging everyone else." Proposed changes in the 2007 sanitary sewer ordinance were also presented by Greg Huza, engineer with Blackhawk Engineering, a primary consultant for the city. The main changes, said Huza, are that if someone dumps something into the sewer and clogs it, that individual would be responsible for costs of clearing it. Also, the hookup fee has been increased from $250 to $500 and the basic fee raised to $30 per quarter. The average sanitary sewer bill, he said, would increase by about 10 percent. When asked if adjacent communities using sewer services could be charged more, Huza said the Town of Prairie du Chien was tied to the city's rate, but the Bridgeport agreement comes up in the spring and can be renegotiated then. He said the two represent 10 percent or less of the total sewer usage. As part of the city's capital improvement plan, Huza said he had met with all street department employees and would like to see some changes made in the future. Huza said he would like to increase street maintenance, but "we spend about 70 percent of our Locks 9 and 10 will see construction activity this winter The local shipping and boating season will come to an end this Sunday, December 3, when Lock and Dam 9 at Lynxville closes for the season. The locks on the Upper Mississippi usually close in early December, unless early winter ice closes them in November. This year, however, Lock 9 will receive an upgrade. Brennan Construction of La Crosse will begin work on December 4 to install slots in the lock walls above and below the entrance and exit gates. The slots will hold bulkhead gates that can be used to keep water out of the lock chamber. According to Lockmaster Darrell Oldenburg, the lock chamber is dewatered about once every 10 to 15 years for regular maintenance. Having the bulkhead slots will also allow the chamber to be dewatered more quickly in the event of an emergency. Oldenburg said that while every lock will eventually have slots installed, the bulkhead gates will be shared by all of the locks in the District. Lock 9 is part of the St. Paul District of the Army Corps of Engineers, which includes all of the locks from Upper St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, to Lock 10 in Guttenberg, Iowa. Tailwater fishing below the dam will not be affected, Oldenburg said, but anglers will not have access to parking at the lock and dam. The parking lot and all other public access to the lock and dam will be closed through the winter. Lock and Dam 4, in Alma, Wis., is also having slots installed this winter. New bulkhead slots have already been installed at Locks and Dams 2, 3, 5 and 8 during previous winters. Locks and Dams 5A, 6, 7 and 10 will be scheduled during the next few years. Crawford County recount shows seven vote difference between Frie and Nerison With the recount from Crawford County completed, the voting total shows a margin of a mere seven votes between Gail Frie and Lee Nerison in the contest for District 96 representative. The recount for Vernon County showed a net change of 19 votes; Richland County reported no change and Monroe County reported that Frie gained two votes. The changes were not sufficient to affect the outcome, however, and Nerison remains the winner. Recount totals for Crawford County are as follows:
Council adopts budget, questions roundabout project Although several items were tabled or postponed at the Nov. 21 meeting of the Prairie du Chien City Council did pass a city budget that held property tax increases for 2007 to 1.31 percent, and Mayor Cheryl Mader congratulated council members on a job well done. Mader said the council had decided in a retreat before the budget was set that they wanted to keep taxes flat this year, and they succeeded in holding costs down. The total budget stands at $6,397,900, up 7.69 percent from last year's budget of $5,941,172, but other sources of revenue offset the cost to the taxpayer. In fact, an overall decrease of 0.02 in the total levy means a small reduction in property taxes. A $100,000 home in 2006 would have had combined property taxes of $2,941.56; taxes for the home in 2007 would be $2,918.07. The city's share of the levy amounts to only 28 percent. 26 percent goes to the county, 38 percent to the public school system, seven percent to Southwest Tech and one percent to the State of Wisconsin. In other business, council tabled an agreement for high way improvements in preparation for the 2010 Main Street project and for two Marquette Road projects scheduled for 2011 and 2012 to have time to verify that changes could be made once the agreement was signed. The main concern for council members was the proposed roundabout on Marquette Road. Council member Jaaren Riebe stated that "The biggest complaint I hear is the roundabout issue." Council member Aaron Collins echoed that concern, stating, "I would like to verify that we can make changes before we get locked into something we don't want." Asked about the advantages roundabout in comparison to a standard intersection, City Administrator Gordon Gallagher stated that he understood the Department of Transportation favored the roundabout because it was cheaper and safer than a standard intersection. The agreement will be discussed at the next meeting. Also tabled was an ordinance to create handicap parking at B.A. Kennedy School until measurements could be obtained for the parking areas. Council denied a request to replace a damaged police vehicle and instead passed a motion that the replacement be put out for bids. Outdoor stove use on the rise in order to combat soaring heating costs With temperatures lowering and energy costs continually rising, late fall is a time when people often begin thinking that there must be a better way to heat their home or business. There is. Many people have been turning to outdoor stoves in recent years as evidenced by the increase in small metal structures popping up next to houses throughout Crawford and surrounding counties. Doug Fuller of Fuller Log and Lumber of Prairie du Chien has been using an outdoor stove for about the past 15 years. In the past four years, as the popularity of outdoor stoves began to rise due to rising gas and heating costs, Fuller has become a dealer and distributor of the fast-growing alternative energy source. "I have had no heating bill for the past 33 years," said Fuller, who noted that outdoor furnaces have numerous advantages in addition to saving money. Fuller sells Crown Royal Outdoor Wood Stoves, which are certified to burn many items, including wood, woodchips, sawdust, coal, shell corn, corn cobs, hay bales, straw bales, wood pellets and dried horse manure. Almost anything that will burn can be used. Many of these items would have been discarded in the past, but are now put to good use as alternative fuels. Fuller says that he has installed outdoor stoves that have saved his customers between $1,000 and $10,000 per year depending upon how big and energy efficient a particular house or business is. Also, one outdoor stove can heat several buildings at once. Fuller pointed out that farmers, for example, use them to heat their house and their milking parlor as well as to dry shell corn or lumber at the same time. Many homeowners use them to heat their home and their garage. They can also heat swimming pools, hot tubs or clothes dryers. Fuller also said that outdoor stoves are very safe because they are an open system. Also, because they are outside, they aren't the fire hazard that indoor wood-burning stoves are. In fact, Fuller said that his insurance rate went down when he started using an outdoor wood stove. There is also a lot less work involved with an outdoor stove versus an indoor stove. Fuller said that most people spend about five minutes per day in dealing with their outdoor stoves. There is no splitting of wood and no mess inside the house. Outdoor stoves have improved over the years and are very easy to clean. Cleaning takes a couple of minutes, is not a dirty job and can be done by almost any adult. The stoves need to be cleaned about once a week. Crown Royal outdoor stoves are made of stainless steel and come in a variety of sizes in order to match the size of the buildings they are to heat. There are units for 3,000 square feet, 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000. In mild weather, a stove may not need to be refilled for about a week, depending upon the home. In severe weather, the stove my need to be refilled each day. Outdoor stoves hook up easily to the homeowner's existing system. The stove heats water to 180 degrees and can be used in a variety of ways. One way is to install a hot water heating coil on the supply side of the new or existing hot air duct. A thermostat regulates the heat and performs two functions. When heat is required, the thermostat sends a signal to the pump to circulate hot water and to the blow to turn on the forced air fan. The homeowner can set the thermostat to the desired temperature. The outdoor stove is "all automatic" and similar to central air. The existing furnace can serve as a backup heating source. The Crown Royal stove can also serve as the hot water heater, supplying hot water for all household needs to dramatically cut hot water cost. Radiant floor heating can be provided by a hot water tube, which circulates throughout a concrete or wood floor construction. Fuller has installed outdoor stoves at homes in Bagley, Eastman and McGregor as well as at farms and businesses. For cities such as Prairie du Chien, in which ordinances prohibit the use of outdoor stoves, Fuller said that pellet furnaces can be installed. These furnaces burn wood pellets or shell corn and also save money on heating fuel costs. Two area businesses that use outdoor stoves to save on heating costs are the Lakeview Tavern outside of Prairie du Chien and the Luck of the Irish tavern in Bagley. Not only does Fuller sell outdoor stoves to supplement his main business of logging and lumber, he helps set up other Crown Royal dealers in other areas. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
