Special Village Board

Village of Grantsburg Village Board of Trustees Special Meeting Wednesday, August 20, 2025 The Board of Trustees for the Village of Grantsburg met on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. at 316 S. Brad Street, Grantsburg, Wisconsin. Present: President Rick Lindberg, Trustee Greg Peer, Trustee Hank Java, Trustee Leo Janke, Trustee Sam Campeau Absent: Trustee John Addison Others: DPW John Erickson, Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Allison Longhenry, Josh Watt-Grantsburg School District Superintendent. The following joined via Teams: Bryce Highstrom-NWBE, Inc. engineer, Nicholas Spitzer-WisDOT Project Manager, Devin Haring, Nathan Ulnes, Tara Weiss, Tok Yang & Megan Isenhower, all from WI DOT Call to Order President Lindberg called the Special Village Board meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. Clerk/Treasurer Meyer conducted roll call. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. James & Johnson Project options: The representatives from WI Department of Transportation went through several options for the James Avenue & Johnson Street project to help reduce the cost of the project with the addition of base required on James Avenue. Nicholas Spitzer, WisDOT felt the 810 lineal feet of curb & gutter, that has not been removed yet, is in good shape and could remain. The DOT reps felt the best options for base would be to add at least 4 inches with fabric or add 6 inches with fabric. Each option would have to pass test rolls. If the 4” with fabric was applied and did not pass the test rolls, it would cost over $10,000 to remove the material. Leaving the curb & gutter and adding 6” of base with fabric would add $69,595 to the Village’s cost for the project. As discussion continued, everyone felt if 6 inches of base were added, the fabric could be eliminated for a savings of $14,000. DPW Erickson had provided numbers for using the Trade Lake pit with the Burnett County Highway Department loading, hauling and spreading a 2-inch lift at a cost of $7,500. He asked the DOT reps if this was an option to save money on the base material. Tara Weiss indicated this was not a viable option since the contract has already been let and there is not time for DOT to test the gravel from the Trade Lake pit. Trustee Java asked if there was a reason the core samples were removed from the bid specs. The DOT reps indicated the area around the project is usually known and that core samples may not have shown the lack of base under all of James. DPW Erickson asked to go over the different options for pavement provided by Spitzer. The differences in MT mixes and 58-28 verses 58-34 were explained by DOT’s pavement expert, Devin Haring. All options have the same life expectancy. With a 6” base, Haring’s first option was 4LT 58-28S. DPW Erickson talked with Monarch Paving and Monarch believed this was a good option for this project. Using this mix of pavement would save $14,556. Motion by Trustee Peer, second by Trustee Java to use a 6-inch base without fabric on James Avenue and a pavement mix of 4LT 58-28S on both James and Johnson Street and to leave 810 lineal feet of curb & gutter for an additional cost to the original contract of 1  Special Village Board Meeting Wednesday, August 20, 2025 $41,030. Motion passed unanimously. It was decided that if the 6’ base without fabric fails the test roll, the Board would meet again and discuss options. President Lindberg asked if a conversation could be held with WisDOT on the process they currently use on these projects to prevent large cost changes to be the entire responsibility of the municipality. Tou Yang and Tara Weiss both indicated that this could happen. Grantsburg School District Superintendent, Josh Watt was asked if traffic patterns could be altered to help the project be completed in a timely matter and to ensure the safety of all students, parents and workers. Watt felt that once school started, the volume of traffic was too large to try to alter any of the existing traffic patterns. He did not want James Avenue to be closed from the Elementary School to the pool. CT Meyer asked if change orders would have to be approved and signed for the changes. Highstrom indicated that they were not used on WisDOT projects and that verbal changes worked. The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m. Sheila Meyer Clerk/Treasurer 2