Groundbreaking set for 2019
By Bert Lehman
The Clintonville City Council approved spending $146,723 toward the construction of a new workshop for the Clintonville Parks and Recreation Department.
The funding comes from tax incremental district closeout funds the city is receiving after it closed several TIDs last year.
The council approved the reallocation of funds by a vote of 8-0 at its Oct. 9 meeting. Council President Mike Hankins and Alderwoman Maggie Tischauser did not attend the meeting for the vote.
Also part of that motion, the council approved assigning $100,000 from the TID closeout funds to the city’s debt service.
Prior to the vote, Alderman Chuck Manske asked why the finance committee selected the parks and recreation workshop as the project the funds should go toward.
“We already talked about having to replace the workshop that is along the river, that floods virtually every spring,” Alderman Jim Supanich said. “… It has no bathroom in it. The working conditions are dismal at best, so we had talked about trying to get that replaced three months ago already. So when this money came available that seemed like the most ideal place to go.”
Alderwoman Julie Stumbris asked where the workshop would be built, if a plan is developed for it and whether bids have been solicited from contractors.
Clintonville Parks and Recreation Director Justin Mc Auly said the plan calls for building the workshop at Bucholtz Park.
He said the current plan is to construct two buildings. One building would include a cold storage building to store the department’s trucks. The other would include a heated shop and office area.
The city has received bids for the concrete work, Mc Auly said.
He added that the city is in the process of obtaining quotes for plumbing, HVAC, electrical and carpentry work for the project.
The project is scheduled for 2019, with groundbreaking to take place in late spring, Mc Auly said.
Stumbris asked if constructing two buildings is the most feasible option when compared to building one with heat in only a portion of the building.
Mc Auly said if the building is larger than a certain cubic feet figure, the city must obtain approval from the state of Wisconsin as well as architectural approvals.
“We’re looking at avoiding that state cost,” Mc Auly said.
City Administrator Sharon Eveland reminded the council that it approved the construction of a new workshop for the Clintonville Parks and Recreation Department earlier this year.
She also addressed the issue of one building versus two buildings.
“We got some preliminary numbers from an architect and we were looking at a single building that would have ended up costing about $350,000,” Eveland said. “Way more than we thought it was going to. Clearly we can’t spend that much money. That’s when Justin came up with splitting that up into two separate buildings.”
Eveland added that in addition to the money from the TID closeout funds, money for the workshop with come from the city’s capital fund.
TID 9
Eveland also updated the council about a new TID proposal the city is working on.
She said the final paperwork is being submitted to the state for the creation of TID 9 in the city of Clintonville.
Eveland also told the city council that Specialized Products, which is included in TID 9, started moving forward with obtaining permits to enable an expansion project.