WRRTC - July 10, 2026 — Minutes

1 Wisconsin River Rail Transit Commission Commission Meeting – Friday, July 10, 2026, at 10:00 am APPROVED 1. 10:00 AM Call to Order – Marty Krueger, Chair 10:00 2. Roll Call Establishment of Quorum Crawford Carl Orr, 1st Vice-Chair X Jefferson Matthew Tracy Absent Mark Gilberts X John Kannard, Vice-Secretary X Tom Cornford Excused Jeff Smith X Mark Groose, Alternate Alternate Dane Kevin Potter Excused Brandon Buchanan Absent Jeff Huttenburg, Treasurer X Rock Tom Brien X Jim Bolitho X Alan Sweeney X Grant David Wiederholt X Sauk Brian Peper X Mike Lieurance X Gaile Burchill X Robert Keeney Excused Marty Krueger, Chair X Gary Kjos, Alternate Alternate Tim McCumber, Alternate X Green Harvey Kubly, 1st Vice-Treasurer X Walworth Al Stanek Absent Larry Kranig Absent Richard Kuhnke, 2nd Vice- Secretary X Mark Gundlach X Allan Polyock X Iowa Charles Anderson, Secretary X Waukesha Rick Beutler, 3rd Vice-Treasurer X John Meyers X Karl Nilson Excused Craig Hardy, Alternate Michael Gates Alternate X Vacant Vacant The commission met quorum. Others present for all or some of the meeting: • Troy Maggied, WRRTC Administrator • Natalie Strait, WRRTC Administrator • Julia Potter, Boardman Clark • Lisa Stern, WisDOT • Sarah Simonson, WisDOT • Ken Lucht, WSOR • Don Vruwink, OCR 3. Action Item. Certification of Meeting’s Public Notice Motion to approve meeting’s public notice – Kuhnke/Beutler. Passed unanimously 4. Action Item. Approval of Agenda – Prepared by Admin. Motion to approve amended agenda as presented – Polyock/Lieurance. Passed unanimously 5. Action Item. Approval of draft June 5, 2026 Meeting Minutes Motion to approve the minutes as presented – Kannard/Gundlach. Passed unanimously 6. Updates. Public Comment – Time for public comment may be limited by the Chair. None. 7. Updates. Announcements by Commissioners McCumber offered his condolences to Waukesha County for the loss of their County Executive. REPORTS & COMMISSION BUSINESS 8. Discussion and possible action on county memos for the economic impact report Lucht provided a summary review of the original scope of work. Chmielewski of UWEX provided the following scope of work details for county memos via email: • Results will be reported as a two-page brief for each of the 10 regions in WSOR (the counties of Crawford, Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, Sauk, Walworth and Waukesha, and the Monroe Subdivision); • The impact analysis will rely on Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) Analysis to examine the impacts of WSOR customers on a given county (or subdivision). The MRIO analysis also considers the spillover impacts of customers on other counties. The spillover effects capture commuting patterns as well as supply chain contributions; 2 • The analysis will rely on data collected as part of the original economic impact analysis. Note that the data is partially based on secondary sources. Adjustments may also be required to avoid reporting the data in a manner that could reveal employment or revenue data for a given business; • Due to data limitations, the impacts will be calculated with a single scenario rather than the multiple scenarios included in the original analysis. However, the analysis will still allow users to explore how freight rail service impacts Wisconsin industries and contributes to local economies. • As impacts will be run for 10 different areas using the MRIO approach, the combined impacts will likely differ somewhat from those of the original analysis. • Due to our ability to leverage additional assistance on this project, the analysis will be completed at no cost. This arrangement is an exception to our typical fee structure. • The analysis will be completed in October 2026. Motion to proceed with the county-level studies as proposed – Kubly/Kannard. Passed unanimously. 9. WRRTC Financial Report The monthly financial statements for May 2026 were presented, including accounts payable and receivable. May LGIP interest is 3.63%. There were two invoices for payment. One invoice was for reimbursement to SWWRPC for paying the WRRTC General Liability Insurance Renewal fee of $18,142.30. Maggied received approval from the Chair and Treasurer to pay this on behalf of the Commission due to the payment due date occurring prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting. He also requested that Tricor change the timeline of invoice distribution to avoid this in the future. The second invoice was from SWWRPC for Q2 administrative services for $9,187.50. Motion to approve the May 2026 Treasurer’s Report and invoices for payment as presented. Burchill/Anderson. Motion passed. The proposed 2027 budget was provided to the Commission again for input. No comments were provided. Motion to set the 2027 member county contributions at $30,000 per county, with the exception of Green County, and to set the public hearing for August 7 at 10:00 am. Beutler/Kannard. Meyers stated that Iowa County passed a resolution proposing county contributions be reduced over the coming years, and asked that this be considered and discussed in the WRRTC budget. Motion passed with one negative vote. 10. Wisconsin & Southern Railroad’s Report on Operations WSOR is preparing for continuous welded rail installation on the Prairie subdivision between Wauzeka and Boscobel. This rail is over 100 years old and over 20 years older than desirable. The extension in Milton is nearly complete and will serve a significant expansion. Lucht reported on numerous other rail-dependent business expansions and their economic impacts. Lucht invited counties to reach out if they have business opportunities, and shared several prospects he is working with and which may need sites within member counties. Lucht reported that 2025 traffic mirrored 2022 traffic with little aggregate growth, though some industries are growing while others are not. 11. WisDOT Report DOT is waiting on Union Pacific information to be submitted in order for the Janesville Bridge project to proceed. DOT has been conducting compliance and safety inspections in north Milwaukee (compliance) and Devils Lake (safety). DOT is working with WSOR to identify creative safety solutions for the trespassing issues in Devil’s Lake. DNR is also engaged in addressing the safety issues since these are private crossings on public land. The new supervisor is starting in early August. 12. Update on Iowa County’s actions related to its membership in the Rail Transit Commissions A resolution passed by the Iowa County board was distributed in the packet. Meyers reported on the financial constraints impacting Iowa County and the current budget shortfall projection. The resolution requests various financial and operational information they believe is due to the Commission per the charter. He also noted the Commission’s ability to levy a per-rail car fee to generate revenue, and asked this be considered. The county’s proposal is to roll back county contributions across subsequent future years. Polyock reported on the value of the rail to Walworth County in exchange 3 for the cost of county contributions as a percentage of the county budget. Lucht stated he has the information requested and can provide it, with respect to the confidentiality necessary as a private business, and as provided for by state law. He provided various examples of DOT and WSOR investments and reiterated that county contributions are only used on rail infrastructure and not WSOR operations. Huttenburg requested WRRTC legal counsel review the resolution before the Commission takes action or responds to Iowa County’s presentation. 13. Administrator’s Report Maggied reported that he has resigned from SWWRPC and will be helping Strait transition into the Administrator position. 14. Adjournment. Motion to Adjourn. Gilberts/Beutler. Passed unanimously.