The Shawano County Tribal Affairs Committee opted to take no action Tuesday on a request by one member to use $1,500 in Ho-Chunk gaming compact funds to fix stop signs.
Instead, the request to find funding for the signs will go to the Highway and Finance departments.
Supervisor Marion Wnek explained that there is a flashing stop sign at the intersection of County roads D and Q west of Bowler that recently stopped flashing. Although the problem was eventually fixed, there could be additional problems in the future with that sign or others in the county, he said.
“We have a very large amount of traffic in that area, and we have had accidents (in the past),” Wnek said.
Wnek pointed out the sign that stopped working had been purchased using Ho-Chunk funds. He said he received a lot of calls when the sign stopped flashing for more than a week.
Wnek said he asked Highway Commissioner Grant Bystol about the issue and was told there was no money in his budget to purchase lights or other parts for the sign.
“I thought, as long as we do have additional monies from the Ho-Chunk Nation, we should set aside $1,500 so parts can be purchased,” Wnek said. “If the light goes out, they can come out immediately and get it operational in 24 hours or less.”
Supervisor Dennis Knaak recommended against using the Ho-Chunk funds, which would have to be approved by the Finance Committee and the County Board. Knaak said he found it hard to believe the Highway Department had insufficient funds to purchase spare parts for the signs.
“Their budget isn’t that tight,” Knaak said.
Supervisor Sandy Steinke disagreed with Knaak’s assessment of the budget. As a member of the Finance Committee, the Tribal Affairs chairwoman pointed out all county departments had to tighten their budgets by $1.5 million to stay under the county’s levy limit.
Categories
