Wake boats, housing, PFAS and more were among the top concerns brought up by those attending listening sessions held by Senate President and District 12 Senator Mary Felzkowski and 34th Assembly Representative Rob Swearingen.
A couple dozen people attended the listening session at Rhinelander City Hall Tuesday afternoon. It was the last of four sessions held over two days in Vilas and Oneida County.
Enhanced wakes
Wake boats were among the top topics talked about once again.
There’s been growing debate over which lakes are appropriate for the boats that generate large waves for sports like wake surfing.
Some argue that the boats damage lakeshores, spread invasive species, and pose a safety risk to other lake users and should therefore be restricted to larger, deeper lakes.
Others say these impacts can be minimized by proper education for wake boat owners.
Though a bill was introduced last year, no agreement on a statewide law was made by the legislature last year.
This has led to some towns putting their own wake restrictions on lakes.
One man from the Town of King near Tomahawk told the lawmakers his town just put up an ordinance on wake boats because surrounding towns all had, and they didn’t want them to all end up going to their lakes. But without a state law to guide the Wisconsin DNR, he’s concerned there will be no enforcement for it.
“Our problem is we can put up all the signs that we want. It's just like putting up a stop sign in a Walmart parking lot. It's not enforceable. It's just a suggestion.”
Senator Felzkowski told those at the listening session, one of the biggest problems with getting lawmakers to agree to legislation is the distribution of lakes in the state.
She says if they put too big of restrictions on it that wake boaters are limited to the larger lakes in the southern half of the state, then the lawmakers that represent those districts likely won’t vote in favor of it.
Felzkowski says she’s asked groups opposed to and in favor of wake boats to meet on May 28th to find a compromise that everyone can agree to.
“The legislation will ensure local control with no limitations on it. We are looking at the spreading of invasives. We are looking at public safety, and we are looking at distance from shore,” Felzkowski said.
Funding for capital improvement projects
The Rhinelander Fire Chief and Rhinelander District Library Executive Director asked the lawmakers to support a local government capital project grant program that’s in the Governor’s budget.
The Governor’s budget calls for allocating more than $40 million over two years for grants to local governments for local projects.
Chief Brian Tonnancour hopes to apply and get this funding for a new public safety building for the City of Rhinelander.
“We can't pull from our taxpayers much anymore. Our public safety building is on its last leg. We have raw sewage coming up in our kitchen sink. It's an issue,” said Tonnancour. “We have four of our eight stalls condemned right now where we can't park our trucks.”
Tonnancour estimates the building, which would house police and fire, will cost around $15 million.
It’s not the only public service in Rhinelander looking at a major building project.
The Rhinelander District Library has raised $1 million so far for its $7 million capital campaign.
Library Director Virginia Roberts also asked for support for funding grants.
“As Chief Tonnancour noted, the grants that are out there are not out there, so we are still having issues with that as well. We will be applying similarly,” said Roberts.
More PFAS Funding
Some communities in Oneida County have been dealing with PFAS for years now.
The Town of Stella has some of the highest rates of PFAS in drinking water in private wells.
The Wisconsin DNR has provided folks with bottled water, paid for well-replacements, and filter installations to help people get clean drinking water, but there have been drawbacks.
Town Chairperson Casey Crump told Felzkowski and Swearingen that some of the new wells are testing positive for PFAS and maintenance on the filters can cost up to $600 every few months.
“They can't sell their homes, obviously, because they don't have clean water, so nobody's going to buy it. They're living off the bottled water. How long that will last? Who knows. When you live your life around this, bottles for brushing my teeth, this bottles for this, this bottle for this, it's pretty tough. I've got quite a few citizens out there that have some real concerns,” said Crump.
The City of Rhinelander is trying to find a location to build a new well after two were shutdown years ago because of elevated levels of PFAS.
Felzkowski said the state is working towards setting groundwater standards and that they’re looking at a “sizeable amount” in the budget for PFAS.
Northwoods Growth
A range of topics related to the Northwoods growth and economy were also brought up.
Oneida County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Tony Pharo told the lawmakers the housing situation isn’t great in the county.
They just wrapped up a housing study which he expects will be published soon.
“The numbers don't look good. If you look at the year of 2030 we are about 1,400 houses/apartments down,” said Pharo.
He says lack of infrastructure is what keeps many developers away.
“When it comes to sewer, water, streets, that's where a lot of this development [halts]. If I had that, I could have housing starting tomorrow,” said Pharo.
Felzkowski said the legislature passed a housing package last session but has been disappointed that only a very small amount of money from it went out the door, saying legislation doesn’t always come out right the first time.
“We've sat down with the realtors and a lot of other developer groups and stuff like that to see, ‘What did we do wrong? Why isn't it being utilized?’ So there is a tweak. I'll call it that. An amendment to that language should be coming out here soon. I know they’re working on it as we speak,” said Felzkowski.
Childcare is another key part in economic development in the region.
Dennis Schoeneck is President of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Tomahawk. The church runs a childcare center.
“I thank those workers very highly for doing what they do. My concern is that we can't pay them enough, but then my concern is for the parents that can't afford to pay anymore. So it's quite a conundrum,” said Schoeneck.
He brought up the Child Care Counts program that was started with federal pandemic funding to provide centers with money so they could keep costs low.
Evers budget calls for $480 million to continue it.
Felzkowski does not support Child Care Counts. Instead, she’d like to see Wisconsin Shares expanded. Instead of funds going directly to the childcare center for all children, it goes to support low income people with the cost of childcare.
“I don't think that we should help pay the childcare cost for somebody that has an income to pay it,” said Felzkowski.
She said they’ve also been looking at public-private partnerships to help with childcare needs.
As other topics like public school funding were brought up, Felzkowski spoke of the need to “economically reinvest” in the Northwoods to bring in young families and increase enrollment in the schools to help secure more funding.
“That means you're going to have an influx of business. You're going to have an influx of people, and you're going to kind of lose the pristine Northwoods, to a certain extent. Your zoning cannot be one house every 40 acres. It cannot be one house every 10 acres. And those are harsh realities,” said Felzkowski.
Other topics brought up by attendees included support for the Knowles Nelson Stewardship Program, culverts, concerns about uninsured drivers, and funding for food pantries that have seen an increase in need.
