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Town Crew Prepares for Snow

Welcome to the Notes from the Grove, providing information about Liberty Grove town government to residents and visitors.

• The town has received the permit for a culvert installation on Garrett Bay Road. The work is tentatively scheduled for this year. An informative link regarding Wisconsin Wetlands is dnr.wi.gov/topic/wetlands. The DNR has determined the work on Garrett Bay will not impact the low-lying areas.

• Three citizens attended the work sessions held by the board/finance committee. They indicated a much better understanding of the budgeting process that the town goes through each year. One aspect was particularly interesting and that is how the levy cap imposed by the state may result in a negative impact on budgeting. The cap allows municipalities to increase the levy from 1 to 2 percent. As a municipality’s debt is reduced the levy is also reduced while various costs increase.

• The town crew completed the sand/salt mixture ahead of this winter’s driving season. A mixture of 1,500 yards of sand (2,100 tons) and 148 tons of salt were blended together and placed in an enclosed storage building. Three large trucks plus a pick-up are used for plowing and sanding the 105 miles-plus of town roads. The grader is used to scrape the pavement clean as well as the shoulders when necessary.

• Kim Maedtke-Shumway, Pat Hockers, Mike Bahrke and chairman Mike Walker of the highway committee will meet as a sub-committee to work out the details of a tree-planting program. The program is intended to plant trees along town roads that have been resurfaced or reconstructed in keeping with the rural character and natural beauty of the town roads.

• “Over the course of several decades spent exploring scenic country roads, I find that none is more enjoyable than the 40-mile stretch of Wisconsin State Highway 42 that meanders through northern Door County,” said Darryl R. Beers from an article that appeared in the most recent Country Magazine. The magazine listed the country’s 10 best scenic roads of 2013. The Door County Coastal Byway is one of those roads. Former Liberty Grove Supervisor Ann Miller was instrumental in getting the byway in place. On behalf of the town board, congratulations to Ann and all who worked so hard to establish the Door County Scenic Byway.

• The proposed levy for the 2014 budget has been posted on the town’s website. The hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18 beginning at 6 pm in the Town Hall.

• According to a Wisconsin Towns Association magazine the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) was adopted by the Continental Congress in 1785 and further refined by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. It imposed a grid system on the landscape creating tiers of uniform 36 square-mile townships that could be subdivided into 36 one-mile sections. Those sections in turn could be further subdivided. The basic premise of the PLSS continues to this day at all governmental levels. It is interesting to note that the original survey crews used a 66-foot long chain as a measurement tool. This is reflected in the modern road right-of-way widths of 66 feet.