Public Works Committee — Minutes

Minutes of the May 13, 2026 Meeting of the Sawyer County Public Works Committee of the Sawyer County Board of Supervisors Board Room; Sawyer County Voting Committee Members Present: Others Present: Ron Kinsley Mike Markgren Tim Davison Jayne Schroeder Marc Helwig Liz Klein Randy Neumann Derek Leslie Sheriff Mrotek Chuck Van Etten John Pinnow Bryan Deyo Jim Evans Bill Kern Call to Order – Clerk Klein called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm. Certification of Compliance with the open meeting law was met. Roll Call was taken; quorum was met. Election of Committee Chair & Vice Chair— Mr. Helwig nominated Mr. Kinsley for Chair. Mr. Kinsley thanked the committee. No other nominations being received, voting proceeded by secret ballot. Ballots were collected by Deputy Clerk Bruce, tallied by Clerks Klein and Bruce, and Mr. Kinsley was unanimously elected Chair of the Public Works Committee. Mr. Evans nominated Mr. Helwig for Vice Chair. Mr. Helwig accepted the nomination. No other nominations being received, voting proceeded by secret ballot. Ballots were collected by Deputy Clerk Bruce, tallied by Clerks Klein and Bruce, and Mr. Helwig was elected Vice Chair of the Public Works Committee. The meeting was turned over to Chairman Kinsley. Meeting Agenda – Set Public Comments- None Minutes from the previous meeting dated: April 8, 2026 Motion to approve by: Mr. Neumann Second by: Mr. Evans Motion carried without negative vote. Change Meeting Day and Time— Motion to change the Public Works Committee meeting time to 5:00 pm by: Mr. Van Etten Second by: Mr. Evans Motion carried without negative vote. Maintenance- Mr. Schmidt provided a written report on April County maintenance projects. Mr. Markgren added that Maintenance is currently remodeling the Clerk and ROD offices for privacy. Sawyer County Airport Report- Mr. Leslie provided the April Airport report. Sawyer County Airport won Project of the Year for its runway resurfacing project, announced at the BOA conference in April. Mr. Markgren attended the conference with Mr. Leslie. A 30 year hangar lease renewal will be coming up in June, as well as a potential transfer of a hangar lease. Mr. Leslie stated that the Airport Master Plan may be further delayed. Highway Department- Commissioner Pinnow updated the committee on April patching on State Road 70, clearing culverts due to high beaver activity, frost damage to roads, and right-of-way acquisition efforts for the CTH E North project. CTH D bridge work continues. Mr. Kern spoke to the committee with an update to the equipment management plan that is ongoing. The Highway Department is paring its fleet, increasing hours on equipment to generate revenue, improving operations and working on moving away from DOT guaranteed cost reliance. If properly implemented, the plan is a 3-6 year process that will move the department from a backlog of aging equipment to a self-funding replacement schedule that generates revenue for the county. Progress is already evident in the first steps that have been taken this year. Annual Renewal of County ATV/UTV Routes— Mr. Pinnow presented a list of 82 county highway segments that were previously approved for ATV/UTV routes. Sheriff Mrotek gave the committee a report on complaints and crashes since the ATV/UTV routes have been in use. Before the approval, there were 101 ATV/UTV complaints, of which half were for illegal operation on the roads. This year there have been a total of 19 complaints. Accidents were mostly on trails, only four were on roads. Deputies stopped 83 ATV/UTV drivers for violations and continue to enforce regulations, stating that the combination of enforcement and education is yielding safe operations. Motion to approve the 2026-2027 ATV/UTV Routes by: Mr. Neumann Second by: Mr. Evans Motion carried without negative vote. The Ad-hoc committee worked with LCO Tribal Members to open new routes on county roads within the LCO Tribal boundary, approved by the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board. The proposed routes were presented to the committee with the following restrictions: 10pm-6am time of operation, and use between May 1-October 31. Motion to approve the new ATV/UTV routes with the restrictions by: Mr. Neumann Second by: Mr. Helwig Motion carried without negative vote. Mr. Kinsley thanked Ms. Schroeder and Mr. Davison for their work with the committee. Board Appointed Committee Updates-- None Correspondence, reports from conferences and meetings – The Ad-hoc committee meeting was rescheduled from May 11 to May 18 at LCO Conservation Office at 11:30am Future Agenda Items – Renewal of Hannah Bay Holdings Lease, Possible Transfer of Hangar Lease Meeting adjourned at 7:16 pm Next Meeting: June 10, 2026 Time: 5:00 pm Location: Board Room Minutes recorded by Liz Klein, Sawyer County Clerk