Fire District Exploratory Committee Begins Evaluation

Welcome to the Notes from the Grove, providing Liberty Grove residents and visitors tid bits of information about goings on in town government.

• The second meeting of the Fire District Exploratory Committee was held in Egg Harbor on Tuesday, June 26. Brian Merkle was elected chairman, Steve Schopf vice chairman and Greg Swain recording secretary. Each Northern Door municipality that is taking part in the discussions has selected three representatives. Meetings are held the last Tuesday of the month and will rotate between the municipalities. The July meeting is scheduled to meet at the Ephraim Village Offices on Highway Q. The meetings are open to the public.

The goal of the committee is to evaluate if the concept of a fire district is a viable option for the municipalities to create a Fire District in northern Door County. The committee will begin its investigation by studying the local mutual aid agreements that are now in place plus the Sister Bay/Liberty Grove agreement which is governed by a fire board.

• The Highway Committee is wrapping up its review of the Highway Maintenance Policy. Both the revised Highway Policy and the proposed Heritage Road Program will be sent to the Town Board for their consideration and implementation.

• Roads are the single largest item in the yearly budget for Liberty Grove. We have 101.26 miles of roads and receive, like other municipalities in the state, a yearly General Transportation Aid (GTA) from the State of Wisconsin. The purpose is to provide local governments with a partial reimbursement of funds to offset the cost of county and municipal road construction, maintenance, traffic, and police costs. In 2011 that total was $214.367.42. The average cost for roads in Liberty Grove from 2005 to 2010 was $746,110. According to the Wisconsin DOT website the 2012 GTA to Liberty Grove will be the same as 2011.

• From the July Town’s Association paper is this interesting statistic: Per Capita Personal Income (PCPI) in Wisconsin since 1929 has trailed the country with three exceptions (1951-53, 1959 and 1979). Last year’s increase in PCPI was the largest in fives years and third consecutive year Wisconsin moved closer to the norm. In 2011 Wisconsin was within 3.8 percent of the U.S.

• From town archives comes the following bit of information: Board Meeting, April 20, 1907. Looked over and signed several road warrants. The following notice was served on the Road Superintendents: “You are hereby notified to purchase tools, repairs, dynamite and pay repair bills out of the delinquent money received and the highway taxes collected in money, get a bill and receipt for all moneys paid out, and present same at settlement day.” The following persons was (sic) appointed as a Board of Health for the Town: J.W. Rogers chairman, John Larson, Lars Larson and John Worachek. Dynamite was paid for on December 3, 1907 to the Holsbad Hardware Company in the amount of $3.75.