Neillsville City Council Approves Request From Neillsville School District

Friday, January 17th, 2025 -- 1:00 PM

The Neillsville City Council heard a request from the School District at their meeting on Tuesday.

Mayor Dewey Poeschel presented the School District of Neillsville request to use and temporarily close City streets for the annual Homecoming Parade scheduled for October 3, 2025 from the School on E. Fourth Street to Hewett Street to E. Sixth Street to Court Street to E. Fifth Street then back to the School. The Council approved the request.

City Clerk Rex Roehl reported on receiving a $1,500 donation from Robert and Elsbeth Johnson for Police Department radios. The Council approved the donation and thanked Robert and Elsbeth Johnson for their donation.

City Clerk Roehl presented a request from Police Chief James Mankowski to carryover 80 hours of 2024 unused vacation time due to the Police Officer shortage. The Council approved the request.

Fire Chief Matt Meyer reported on the Fourth Quarter 2024:

• Changing the Smokey Bear sign;
• Attending a Clark County Emergency Services Association meeting in Pittsville;
• Holding the Firemen’s Annual Steak Feed-thanks for the strong community support (1,147 meals plus 40 kids meals were served);
• Fire Prevention week tours and talks;
• Busy getting the new City engine ready for service and a thank you to Assistant Fire Chief Bill Poeschel for his many hours of stocking and mounting tools in the truck;
• Fire drills at Mayville Engineering and St. John’s School;
• Attending a Mens Club meeting to show the new truck;
• Provided crossing guards for Halloween Trick-or-Treating hours;
• Conducted annual Fall yard clean up for six Fire Department retirees/widows;
• Removed a large limb from Listeman Trout Pond using water rescue training and equipment;
• Sold the old Fire Truck;
• Worked with Natalie Erpenbach to write a grant requesting $212,500 for new Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA);
• Set up a Committee to view Granton’s new Breathing Air Compressor;
• Met with a salesman and ordered a Breathing Air Compressor which will be fully funded by the Firemen’s Steak Feed proceeds and numerous donations totaling $52,696.18 along with the upgrades needed;
• Attended Community Fire Hall and Rural Fire Association meetings;
• Took Santa to the Gazebo for the tree lighting;
• Met with Atmus Filtration at their facility for confined space awareness;
• Received a Clark/Adler Foundation grant for the new fire engine and thanked Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Strangfeld for his work on the grant application;
• Semi-annual fire inspection were completed;
• One firefighter has left the department;
• SCBA’s bi-annual inspection tests were done;
• OEM Fabricators made and donated a hose rack for the new engine;
• A helicopter landing zone training was held at the Fairgrounds;
• An extraction training was held on cars provided by Gross Motors.

Fire Chief Meyer also reported on:

• 14 calls including 5-City, which included 1 EMS lift assist, 1 two car accident, 1 gas odor and 2 cancelled enroute;
• 9-Rural, which included 2 one vehicle accidents, 1 car fire, 1 camper fire, 1 structure fire, 1 Mutual Aid to Granton for a structure fire, 1 Mutual Aid to Humbird for a structure fire, 1 cancelled enroute and 1 EMS lift assist.

Chief Mankowski reported on:

• The project for displaying address numbers (those with missing street addresses have until April 1, 2025 to comply);
• Trainings;
• A new computer with docking station;
• Replaced the transmission in Squad #4;
• Parking enforcement;
• Citations;
• Warnings;
• Incidents;
• Office activity;
• Officer activity;
• Business patrols and Town of Mentor contract policing.

City Clerk Roehl reported that:

• West Central Wisconsin Region Planning Commission (WCWRPC) has a Regional Outdoor Recreation Survey on Facebook,
• Chippewa Valley Technical College (CVTC) is hosting a visioning session at the Neillsville Campus on Tuesday, January 21, 2025 from 2:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.;
• Clark County Emergency Management is hosting a 2025 Clark County Preparedness Exercise on widespread flooding at the Clark County Courthouse on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 from 8:30 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

Resident and former Mayor Diane Murphy presented the history of the City establishing TIF Districts and work on the S.C. Swiderski Residential Housing Development as there are members who were not in office when this started.

She had a file of information for the Council’s review, stating the City needs development and growth; we need to work for the best interest of the City and its taxpayers.

Murphy went through the history of TIF District No. 2 which brought OEM and Mark Tyler to the City, buying the land from Lloyd Meyer, putting in a street and in 2026 the joint creating units of government will share in its growth of $134,901.00 per year.

OEM is considering expanding, but housing is needed. Murphy went through the history of TIF District No. 3 working with Boon Construction and Donald Boon and a beautiful residential area was developed with streets, utilities, etc.

Discussion with Boon and Swiderski on buying 16 acres for housing development began in 2025. Boon is willing to work with the City, the land is still available.

The Boon family has invested more than a million dollars in this subdivision and they are committed to our City. In 2027 the joint creating units of government will share in its growth of $77,012.38 per year.

Murphy went through the history of the S.C. Swiderski Residential Building Development. Swiderski has spent over a $100,000 in research and development of this project; all they want is the 16-acre parcel in the Boon Subdivision at the agreed upon price of $560,000.

The Industrial Park people received land from the City. Swiderski’s estimated construction cost for the apartments and storage is $11,000,000 generating $250,000 in real estate taxes per year.

Murphy is asking the City to work with Swiderski, they are very good people and should be shown respect. As the City proceeds forward, she should be contacted as she represents Donald Boon in this project.

The Council then heard the various Committee Reports. Council Member Clarrissa Rochester reported on the January 7, 2025 meeting of the Heritage Days Committee regarding:

• Discussion on a circus and tabling to check on a site;
• Discussion on activities or games for children;
• Donation letters have been sent out;
• And discussion on 2025 Grand Marshall.

Council Member Barb Petkovsek reported on the January 8, 2025 meeting of the Beautification Committee regarding:

• Discussion on flowers and plants for 2025;
• Discussion on Military banners;
• Discussion on and review of Winter decorations;
• Discussion on and approved accepting a Clark County Community Foundation grant in the amount of $850;
• And discussion on projects for 2025

Council Member Dan Clough reported on the January 14, 2025 meeting of the Commission on Public Works/Utilities regarding current activities.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.