State Representative Fred Clark talked to the Marquette County Board about Montello’s dredge bank road as well as the prevailing wage law requiring towns to bid out work over $25,000. (Photo by Kathleen McGwin)
Clark updates County Board on Montello dredge bank road
By Kathleen McGwin
State Representative Fred Clark was at Tuesday’s county board meeting to update supervisors on several issues of import to Marquette County. The project to repair and improve Sunset Drive also known as the dredge bank road which is a section of the dam that forms Buffalo Lake in Montello is moving forward, he said.
“We’ve been very successful in working together on this project,” Clark said. By late summer or early fall the final designs should be completed so that the project can be put forward into the state budget. The project will cost several million dollars and will most likely require a draw down of Buffalo Lake. He hopes this can be done to minimize the impact on the community. Regarding looking forward into a “tough budget,” he said, “We will have to convince the legislature that this is a worthwhile project.”
Clark also addressed the prevailing wage requirement that forces towns to bid out road work over $25,000. Marquette County and the Town of Harris have a pending claim against them by the Construction Business Group because Harris used the County Highway Department to do road work. Clark said he understands how difficult this is for towns and asked the supervisors to voice their concerns so that the law might be changed.
“I was one of the legislators who lobbied for a compromise that raised the cost of the jobs to $25,000,” Clark said. “We need to understand how this is impacting you.”
He said that there may be a need to work to exempt communities under a certain size or raise the threshold amount of jobs that require bidding out. Clark also said that in the past his staff has investigated the law regarding the right of towns to use county highway departments to do road repair.
“I do believe firmly,” he said, “that it is the right of every township to be able to contract with the county to do highway construction work. If there is any question about that, I’ll be glad to introduce a bill to make that more clear.”
Clark took questions from the supervisors. When asked by Supervisor John Johnston of the Town of Douglas about the high rates of health insurance in Marquette County compared to surrounding counties, Clark said he would get an answer back to him and apologized for not doing so earlier when Johnston had asked at a previous meeting.
Supervisor Gerald Hebert from Neshkoro asked “how firm” the money the state promises to school districts if they consolidate will be in the future. Clark replied, “Consolidation money is as firm as the next legislature will make it,” and said he could not predict what that would mean next session.
Supervisor Mike Raddatz from Mecan asked about funding for the construction of a new food bank building in Marquette County. Clark said they needed firm plans before they can move on applying for the money. Raddatz said the plans were almost done and Supervisor Paul Wade, Vice Chairman, said there wasn’t a location decided on at this time.
Caption:
State Representative Fred Clark talked to the Marquette County Board about Montello’s dredge bank road as well as the prevailing wage law requiring towns to bid out work over $25,000. (Photo by Kathleen McGwin)
