City council chills talk of returning snowmobiles to Rhinelander streets

At the last meeting of the Rhinelander city council, a citizen came forward during public comment to ask the council to consider returning snowmobile traffic to downtown Rhinelander in some fashion so that city residents could access the trail system. At the Jan. 13 meeting, Mayor Kris Hanus said he reached out to the snowmobile club for their thoughts.

He said the snowmobile club expressed that, if the city did have an ordinance, that it would mirror that of surrounding communities. From an economic point of view, he said, the club wanted to see a way to get a trailhead into downtown Rhinelander so riders could get to downtown and then walk to wherever they would like to go.

Alderman Steven Jopek said, while he was not a snowmobiler, he still felt it was a good idea to put it on the agenda, since it had come up at public comment.

City administrator Patrick Reagan said he reached out to surrounding towns and cities, some of which had an ordinance. He also pointed out the Police Chief Chiamulera stated, in a letter, that he would not support allowing snowmobile access to city streets. He cited safety concerns, an enforcement burden to the department and damage to roadways and sidewalks as some of the issues he saw. 

“Even allowing snowmobiles to utilize roadways to go from residence, straight to the trailhead, has zero economic benefit for the City of Rhinelander,” his letter stated. 

Jopek stated he would take the police chief’s concerns with a heavier weight than a citizen’s wish to access the snowmobile trailhead from their home within the city. He said safety was a bigger concern in his mind. However, he said, if the idea was to allow a radius access so those that were close to the trail system could drive that short distance to get to the trail, he felt that might still be open to discussion. 

“As far as open access to downtown, I firmly oppose,” Jopek said. “You’d really need to convince me that we need that.”

Alderman David Holt said he had seen the matter come before council previously, but it had always been around snowmobile crossings. Those discussions surrounded costs of wear and tear to roads and the cost of compounds needed to mitigate that wear and tear. He said that discussion, the discussion of opening downtown to snowmobiles, and only offering that radius access about which Jopek spoke were three different discussions. 

“I’m not stating for or against, but I’m laying out the different discussions we should have with the accessibility of recreational vehicles in general,” Holt said. He said he felt the initial impetus was just getting to a trail head from some close radius in town, but he was not opposed to having any of the discussions he’d mentioned. He said the city was just not set up for snowmobile traffic, and that deciding who could and who could not have access was opening a Pandora’s box. 

Alderman Gerald Anderson said, in reading the ordinance, he was surprised at the number of places in the city where snowmobiles were allowed. He said he felt a discussion about snowmobiles was much more difficult than ATVs and UTVs. He said he also had concerns that drivers would not expect to encounter a snowmobile within the city. He said he was not in favor of allowing more access to snowmobiles, but would take part in any discussion that may come along.

Alderperson Carrie Mikalauski said she felt it would be helpful to talk with the snowmobile club to get more information on what, exactly, they would like to see. She said a proposal from the snowmobile club would allow for a better discussion on the topic in general.

“Until we see a proposed plan, I’m not really in favor of changing anything at this time,” she said. “Unless you have a lot of snow on the streets, it’s darn near impossible to steer those things.” She mentioned her experience in the city of Hurley, where snowmobiles are allowed on city streets. 

Jopek said he, too, would like to see proposals from the snowmobile club or from riders. He said if the council were to be provided with a few options, it could make a better-informed decision. He said allowing residents to drive from their home to the trailhead would essentially mean opening up the entire town.

Hanus said it was not the snowmobile club that was the driving impetus behind the idea, but he would be willing to have a conversation with them. Because the club was busy working on trails at this time of the year, it would likely be spring before that conversation would happen. 

Alderman Luke Kramer said he had a friend from high school that grooms trails and puts up signage. He said that person told him there was no way the club could feasibly put up all of the signs that would be needed. He, too, had concerns about safety, and said he would not be in favor of changing the ordinance. 

“What I’m hearing is the direction you want administration to do is to reach out to the club and say if you want to propose something, we’re willing to listen, but without a proposal, we’re pretty much happy with the status quo,” Hanus said and the council agreed.

Snow removal

With recent winter storms with heavy snow, ice and sleet, Hanus said he added this item to the agenda because there had not been this type of heavy winter weather in recent years, and he wanted people to understand the work the city streets department was doing and the challenges of removing snow and ice in the city.

Reagan provided a snow removal log as well as the associated costs with that snow removal. Street foreman Justin Ernst reviewed what he called the flowchart of the season so far. Crews had been out much more this year than last due to the more harsh winter weather. 

He also spoke about concerns residents had about what they perceived to be a lack of salting following a recent storm. However, when temperatures are at zero degrees, and even lower, salt is ineffective and is no longer an option to use. While a salt/sand mix was used each time there was a report of a slippery intersection, due to road temperatures, those actions were only temporary. He said so far there had been 1,877 man-hours this year. He said crews had been out every weekend doing some sort of snow removal or treatment process. From Nov. 26, 2026 to Jan 1, he said, city costs without state rates was already $103,535.26. With state rates, the cost had been $279,266.46.

Ernst said he felt it was important to show these numbers to the council and to raise awareness of what city street crews had been doing. He also spoke about the issues with getting new trucks built or getting scrapers put onto wing blade trucks. All of the builders, he said, are two years out no builds, with a vast shortage of mechanics.

“I think the community has been a little spoiled the last couple of years with little to no snow,” Mikalauski said. “I think people have forgotten what it’s like to live in Northern Wisconsin when we do have snow, so I think that, it would behoove our folks to give your guys some grace and understand that it does take some time to clear the roads.” 

She said she felt the street crews got unfair negative publicity on social media, encouraged Ernst to not read Facebook and asked members of the community to simply “do better.” 

Mikalauski said she wanted to give the department “kudos” and complimented them on the job they had done thus far. 

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].