Fee-less weight limit permit, upcoming road maintenance projects discussed by Stella town board

Unusual circumstances this year for the town of Stella’s seasonal rate limits led the agenda at last Tuesday’s meeting of the town board.

Revisiting a decision made at the board’s November meeting, town chairman William “Casey” Crump observed 2026 weight limit permits must be completed and submitted to exceed the posted weight limits, but this year no fees will be required for those permits.

That’s because, he said, “we’re going to be tearing the road up.” That construction is anticipated to start in June in a $4 million Agricultural Roads Improvement Program (ARIP) project.

“This year we make sure they’ve got the permit and they know they have to have it, and we just play good neighbor for right now,” said Crump. “Next year we’ll have everything in place and we’ll have fees and we’ll have the permit structure … and we can better address it then.” 

A pair of road maintenance topics were also on the agenda.

In preparation for the above-mentioned ARIP project, which is funded by a grant for projects that directly impact roads used for purposes such as agriculture and forestry, the board approved putting out bids for tree removal. The bids will be opened at a special meeting March 24 at 5 p.m.

“Obviously we want the dead stuff (removed) because that’s what we get called on every time we have a frickin’ storm or something falls in the road,” said Crump. “Then I would say, the standard is anything that impedes the right of way for someone to run off the road and come back on the road should be removed.”

He added, “We’ll go and mark those trees on Thursday and then … we’ll come up with what we want in the bid and the work we want done, we’ll get that out and then we can have a special meeting … and open the bids and get that awarded, and get it started first part of April.”

The other road maintenance discussion centered on East Stella Lake Road, which will benefit from a Local Roads Improvement Program (LRIP) grant this year.

“Because it’s an LRIP grant you’ve got to meet (Wisconsin Department of Transportation) standards, which would be 18 feet wide with two-foot shoulders,” said town supervisor Jerome Pokorny. “We only have 16 foot wide out there, with one-foot to two-foot shoulders.” 

He reported getting a DOT Exception to Standard request form that looks “really foreign to me” but that he’ll be taking a closer look at.

“They just want basically the engineer to sign off on it and say that we can’t comply with current standards for this road but the road needs to be done,” observed Crump.

Also at the meeting, the board approved revisions to Stella’s Snowmobile Route Ordinance, which chairman Crump told the River News adds Cross County Road as a snowmobile route, and Snowmobile Access Ordinance, to allow riding a snowmobile on the side of a road to the nearest trail.

Action on the Town Road Requirement Ordinance was tabled, to allow Crump and clerk Stacy Schickert to review that ordinance and update it as needed. Crump noted it currently lists 1996 road standards.

Among other highlights of the meeting, the town board:

• Decided to have Oh Jay Services LLC of Tomahawk again provide a porta-potty at the Stella town hall playground from May to October.

• Agreed to put out bids for lawn mowing at the Stella town hall.

• Heard from Schickert the town hall will be unavailable for rentals approximately April 1-7, due to the upcoming April 7 Spring Election and preceding public test of voting equipment. 

The Stella town board will meet next at its annual meeting Tuesday, April 21, at 5 p.m.

Ardith Carlton may be reached at [email protected].