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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDecember Detailed Agenda- GRANT COUNTY HIGHWAY COMMISSION Jon Knautz, Commissioner Chair Gary Northouse, Vice Chair Pat Schroeder, Secretary Diane Nelson, Roger Guthrie. Lester Jantzen • 1011 North Adams Street GRANT COUNT Office: WI 53813 1t>csttWAY Office: 608-723-2595 Shop 608-723-2537 DEPARTMENT December 18, 2025 Highway Committee Meeting: Items to be Discussed December 11, 2025 The Grant County Highway Committee will call the meeting to order on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at 9:00 am, at the Highway Department Shop, 1011 North Adams Street, Lancaster, Wisconsin. This meeting will also be held virtually via zoom for anyone unable to attend. The zoom address can be found on the Grant County website. Call to Order Confirmation of Open Meeting Law Adoption of Agenda Approval of Minutes Approval of Bills Items from the Office: • The October, 2025, requisition, has been submitted to the state for reimbursement. The Highway Department is requesting a total of $194,190.33 for our October reimbursement. This amount is over the 5-year average amount spent in October by $72,022.83. For the 2025 season, we are over the RMA estimated average monthly budget by $77,160.11. We also submitted reimbursement requests for state equipment repair $92.21, GPS communication fee, $308.00 and state accident repairs totaling $1,213.23. The largest account expenditure was for the "roadside vegetation" account, which includes the department's roadside mowing done in October. We continue to be in good standing with the DOT. Pretty much a certainty that we will come in over budget for the year, due to the earlier than normal, snow storms. We will see. • Our county core accounts thru the end of November, 2025, as entered in Tyler Munis software: Thru November, the Highway Department has received 94% of its budgeted revenues. This amount includes the property tax levy and the insurance recovery for the Platteville salt shed roof. We have used 93% of our budgeted expenses. Our core expense accounts are as follows: Equipment Acquisition----------------------------- 98% used a.) Supervisor pick-up has been purchased, and has been invoiced Capital Outlay -Buildings-------------------------- 80% used a_) Materials for Patch Grove salt shed have been invoiced. A portion of the construction costs has been invoiced. There will be more construction costs to invoice before January 1, 2026 County Routine Maintenance---------------------- 96% used County Snow & Ice------------------------------ 46% used County Road Construction------------------------ 74% used a.) 1900 feet of CTH A, west of Lancaster, has not been invoiced River Access ------------------------------------------ 228% used a.) received 133% of budgeted boat landing fees b.) received 99% of budgeted River Access grant State Superintendent Items: • State crews have been dealing with the recent snow storms. Steve is doing a god job keeping state guys busy with our snow removal projects. Steve will give details. County Superintendent Items: • County section patrolman have also been dealing with snow storms. Our heavy truck drivers have been delivering salt and chips to where -ever needed. Our two signing guys have been filling in for patrolman when needed and repairing signs and mailboxes as needed. Any person we have left over is helping to make and transfer brine. We are making a lot of brine in order to keep up with demand. Trent and Steve are both doing well assuring we keep up. Our two, night dispatchers, have also been busy making and transporting brine, when not checking roads or calling patrolman into work. Trent will give details. Shop Foreman Items: • Mechanics have been making equipment repairs thru the winter storms. When not busy making repairs, they have started mounting Samsara cameras to section trucks. Our fabricator has finished mounting the "crash cushion" to our semi. He has also been busy making repairs to snow equipment thru the recent storms. Our parts person has been busy ordering needed parts for mechanics as well as ordering smaller items that are needed by our patrolman, (wiper blades, wiper motors, washer spray, fuel supplement, plow and wing markers, marking paint) are some smaller items that he takes care of for our patrolman. He also is charged with answering phone calls regarding shop issues, as well as taking calls on our two-way radios for shop issues. • Our apprentice mechanic continues to help out where he can. He is often required to make runs to Dubuque or Madison for parts that are needed quickly. Ile also has been used as a plow operator on 151 as a "night run" plow operator. Tim Nelson, our mechanic apprentice, has been a great addition to our crew. Engineering Report: • Travis will update Patch Grove salt shed progression. • Travis will give update on Local Road Improvement Projects for county and townships Commissioners Report: • Training Update: o We now have all employees, WiDOT certified for flagging traffic on our state highway system. Certifications are good for two years. The City of Lancaster also sent over a couple of men for this training. o Scott Pagenkopf, our paving foreman, has recently finished compiling and downloading all chemicals that our crews use that are considered hazardous. He has obtained the SDS sheets for each chemical. The SDS sheets inform users what action should be taken if an individual should somehow inhale or get that chemical on skin or in eyes. He will soon be installing the info into a format that can be easily used by our employees if someone is hurt while in -the -field. • Facility Report: The commissioner will present the Grant County Highway Department, 2026 Routine Agreement.. The agreement is for $2,558,600.00 which is up from 2025 by $321,100.00. There is no need to sign anything or make any motions, just an FYI. o The paving for the CTH "A" project, west of Lancaster is finished. There has been a number of concerns voiced from residents that live on Three Springs Rd, regarding the project. The issue regards to the steepness of the town road, where it meets Grant County Road "A". The roadside slope at the intersection is also a concern. We have a couple pictures that we took of the intersection and will present at the meeting. • Employee Update: o The Highway Commissioner position has now been filled. Steve Morgan, our State Superintendent, has been offered the position and has accepted. Steve's first day as Commissioner will be January 12. o We have recently filled the open position at our Boscobel shop. Chris Chappell has accepted the open position. Chris lives near Boscobel and comes to us with experience in operating heavy equipment thru his work as pipe layer, laborer, with RG Huston Company. Chris will begin work for Grant County Highway on December 22. o We have also received a resignation letter from an employee that works out of our Fennimore shop as a county section patrolman. This position is responsible for maintaining CTH "K" north of highway 18, as well as CTH "C" that runs along the Wisconsin River until it meets state highway 18, near Bridgeport. We have since opened up the position to anyone interested "in-house". As of this writing, we have one employee interested in that position. • Set Time and Date for Next Scheduled Meeting: January 15, 2026, would be next meeting date. • Adjourn: