LdF town board approves latest payment to keep roads open

Following a relatively short closed session on Jan. 31, the Lac du Flambeau town board approved a motion to make the latest monthly payment to the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians to keep four roads open.

It’s been a little more than a year since the tribal council barricaded Annie Sunn Lane, Center Sugarbush Lane, East Ross Allen Lane and Elsie Lake Lane because easements on tribal land on portions of the roads have been expired for at least a decade. 

The town and tribal council eventually reached an agreement that had the town paying $60,000 to reopen the roads. The intent at the time was to also have a 90-day period incorporated to allow the town board and tribal council to negotiate a long-term resolution to the easement issue. 

There have been a few negotiating sessions since that time but none for several months. Meanwhile, the town has been making monthly payments to the tribal council to keep the roads open. 

As of the end of 2023, that monthly arrangement, including the initial $60,000 the town paid to the tribe, was $256,000; initially to be $20,000 a month starting in the May timeframe, the tribal council demanded, and the town board agreed to, a $2,000 per month increase each month. 

Last month, the town paid the tribe $36,000 for the period between Jan. 12 and Feb. 12 and late last Month, following the closed session, town supervisor Bob Hanson made a motion to pay the tribe $38,000 for the Feb. 12 to March 12 time period. 

His motion was seconded by town supervisor Gloria Cobb. 

After the meeting, town clerk Susan Schoonover told The Lakeland Times of the $330,000 total paid to the tribe so far, the title companies for the property owners on the four roads have paid $86,000. 

Before the board went into closed session, town chairman Matt Gaulke opened the floor for public comment. 

“I said it before, I’ll say it again,” Lac du Flambeau resident Dave Wakeman said. “There’s no negotiating going on. Why do we keep handing them money?”

He said the money “needs to be” going into an escrow account. 

“Force their hand and negotiate with us,” Wakeman said. “The other thing is we’re not getting any information on what’s happening. You guys go into a closed meeting, you come out and give us a few crumbs ... we need information. Blind faith has come to a screeching halt. At our house, anyway. What’s the attorney telling people? What is happening?”

He also asked what was happening with U.S. Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

“Are we burning up the phone lines trying to get the federal government involved with this?” Wakeman asked. “There’s a whole list of questions that ... we just don’t know what’s goin’ on. We need to have a special meeting where you can tell us what’s going on.”

Lac du Flambeau resident Darwin Lohse, one of the owners of property involved in the four-road issue, said Wakeman “stole my thunder” and asked if the monthly payment would be made, a question answered later when the town board came out of closed session to approve the $38,000 payment to the tribe. 

“Number two, there are 12 families that have a lawsuit against the town,” he said, referring to just one of several pieces of litigation related to  the road issue, including a lawsuit against the town by the federal government. 

As of Feb. 2, no court has ruled on any of the current lawsuits. 

Lohse’s question, though, revolved around the town’s insurance coverage. 

“I understand you have a $3 million liability policy for the town,” he said. “My question is is that $3 million per occurrence? Or is it $3 million dollars total?”

After the meeting, Schoonover told the Times that town attorney Greg Harrold and the Green Bay attorney the town hired to serve as outside counsel, Frank Kowalkowski, were looking into Lohse’s question regarding the insurance coverage. 

Following the closed session and just before adjourning the meeting, Gaulke made a statement. 

“In our closed session, the main crux of it was we had a video Zoom call with (U.S.) Senator Tammy Baldwin and explained to her our situation and answered some of her questions,” he said. “She knew quite a bit about it and she did tell us that she was going to look into it, work hard to try to find some sort of resolution and was also going to get in touch with Gov. (Tony) Evers to see if the two of them can help us out in some way. So, yes, we have been ‘burning up the phone lines’ with our federal officials and she (Baldwin) was the first one available.”

Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].