Door County Municipal News

Baileys Harbor:  The town added its name to the growing list of Wisconsin municipalities opposed to Senate Bill 349, a bill introduced and fast-tracked last fall that would allow frac sand mining companies to do business with less local interference. SB 349 removes local control of air and water quality and water quantity and makes the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources the sole arbiter of those resources. The bill also makes it more difficult for municipalities to be compensated for road damages caused by heavy trucks. “It’s taking too much of local powers away,” said Baileys Harbor Supervisor Bobby Schultz during the town board’s Dec. 13 meeting. The board voted unanimously to oppose SB 349.

City of Sturgeon Bay:  The city is hiring full- and part-time seasonal street and parks department jobs through Feb. 10. Go to sturgeonbaywi.org to download an application.

Ephraim:  The Ephraim Village Board meeting was postponed until Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 7 pm. At the meeting they will hear a presentation from the Door County Civility Project and discuss 2014 marina dredging and proposals from firms who want to help with the village’s streetscape design project.

“It’s our desire to hire someone to come in and take a look and see if they can help us come to a common theme throughout the village we can use when improving properties,” said Charity Buhr, village administrator.

Gibraltar:  The Gibraltar Town Board discussed implementing a noise ordinance at its meeting on Jan. 8, and will continue the discussion at its Feb. 5 meeting. Specific noise incidents caused the board to look into this issue and supervisors are now considering whether the town needs an ordinance, if the ordinance should cover just outdoor music or general noise, and if the ordinance should include a time or decibel limit (such as nothing more than 75 decibels after 10 pm).

Jacksonport:  Weather has caused rescheduling of recycling in the Town of Jacksonport. Advanced Disposal cancelled the recycling drop-off on the Jan. 11 due to icy road conditions. The January recycling drop-off has been rescheduled for Jan. 25at the town hall.

Liberty Grove:  Door County North members are invited to meet new Door County North Community Coordinator Darcie Pilz at an informal coffee gathering at 10 am Tuesday, Jan. 21, at the Liberty Grove Fire Station.

Village of Egg Harbor:  At its Jan. 13 meeting, village trustees adopted an amendment to the building code that requires inspections for remodeling projects in the village. Previously, the village had required inspections only for new homes. “We’d heard anecdotally from some folks that we were known to not do these types of inspections, so some contractors took a different approach,” said Village Administrator Josh Van Lieshout. “We felt it was time to address this issue.”

It was also noted at the meeting that the village’s share of room tax collections is up again, to $101,000. “That always presents a whole bunch of opportunities,” Van Lieshout said.

The village also accepted an $8,000 donation from Kevin Egan to support the 2014 Sunset Concert Series at the Peg Egan Performing Arts Center.