New town hall decision delayed

Talk about it

Building plans for a new St. Joseph Town Hall building were the topic of discussion once again Monday night, as were some reservations on how, or if, to move forward with the project.

The board voted 2-1 to take no action on the issue at the upcoming special town meeting, and to work on a referendum for the spring ballot.

“The town is not in any jeopardy; we need to learn to get by with what we have,” said Supervisor Dan Gavin. He suggested that instead of having a small group of townspeople vote on the issue at a special town meeting the item should be put on the ballot.

However, due to Wisconsin statutes, this would be non-binding and would eventually have to be voted on at a special town meeting before taking effect.

“There is no sense of urgency for us to put this on the agenda for the special town meeting,” said Gavin. “There is no compelling argument for it.”

Joint library

Taxpayer costs for the town of St. Joseph were finalized regarding the joint library issue. Should all ballot questions pass in the four participating municipalities, citizens would be looking at an increase of $46.02 per $100,000 of assessed value in St. Joe. This would include both the debt service and operating expenses for the library.

The projected timing of the project, should it go forward, would be to begin renovation in November 2009, and to move into the building in late 2010. This is assuming that all eight ballot questions pass (in four municipalities), and that both the town of Hudson and the town of St. Joseph pass resolutions at a special town board meeting to purchase the building. If any one of these 10 items fails, the deal will be voided.

Sunset Landing

The Town Board decided not to take any action on a proposal for the Sunset Landing preliminary plat from Sienna Corp. There have been issues with the DNR regarding the plat, and the board is asking for more information and a letter spelling out the DNR’s specific position on the issue.

The Town Board also wants to make sure that all of St. Croix County’s conditions have been satisfied and that if any more approvals are needed, what steps could be done to receive them. In addition, the board is looking for a report from the builder on how they would provide monetary funding for the project.

Tags: news, stjoseph, townhall, library