MDOT Outlines Plans for Cloverland Drive Project
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Sunny High: 57 | Low: 44 | Details, page 2 DAILY GLOBE OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR yourdailyglobe.com Saturday, April 11, 2015 75 cents MDOT outlines plans for Cloverland Drive project By RALPH ANSAMI Westbound traffic will be detoured on presentation covering the work sched- upgrades, sidewalks and construction of Hebert Construction was the low bid- [email protected] Jackson Road to Greenbush Street. uled for this summer, followed by an a center left-turn lane at the Lake Street der for the project at $5,299,270, accord- IRONWOOD — The Michigan Eastbound traffic will be maintained on opportunity for residents and business signal. ing to MDOT. Department of Transportation said Fri- U.S. 2. owners to ask questions or speak one-on- All businesses in the project area will The city will fund sewer and water day one lane of U.S. 2 will remain open MDOT and the city of Ironwood invite one with MDOT officials. remain open during construction. Park- improvement costs through a federal during the summer’s reconstruction pro- the public to a meeting to discuss the The project contractor, Hebert Con- ing will be available along side streets or U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural ject from Curry Street to Roosevelt Street. U.S. 2 (Cloverland Drive) reconstruction struction, of Iron River, will also be on immediately behind many businesses. Development grant-loan package. That’s the same arrangement as was project that is planned to begin in May hand. MDOT stressed access to businesses The city plans a meeting for Tuesday, used for the first half of the project last and finish in October. The mile-long project will involve will be maintained at all times. April 28, at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the year, from the city’s recreational vehicle The April 30, 5 p.m. meeting in the widening each of the four lanes from 11 People with questions before the infrastructure work to be completed as tourist park to Curry Street. Memorial Building will include a brief feet to 12 feet. It will include utility meeting may contact 866-584-8100. part of the project. Precipitation SPRING GRAZING helps hold fire danger down By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The nuisance snow that arrived over the Goge- bic Range Thursday evening wasn’t good for much, other than keeping fire danger down. The Ironwood weather station at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant recorded 3.1 inches of snow and .47 inch of precipitation for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Friday. Just like the National Weath- er Service had predicted, steady rain turned to snow in the evening and there was a brief period of a heavy accumulation, making roads slick. Most of the snow had melted by Friday afternoon across the Range. With warming tempera- tures, some area lawns even turned green. Lake Superior settled down Richard Jenkins/Daily Globe and a few boats were out on the THREE HORSES graze near a fence line on Park Road in Kimball, Wis., on Friday, after Thursday’s snowfall had melted. big pond at Saxon Harbor. The gradual melt-down and some light rain have made spring relatively uneventul here, as no major flooding has occurred. County board urges Gov. Walker to reconsider forestry cuts Elsewhere, the Wisconsin Department of Natural By RICHARD JENKINS the case of Iron County is Forest Admin- over $1.2 million,” Peterson said. land added to the county forest. Resources said it was a busy [email protected] istrator Eric Peterson. The grant is especially important for Because of the large amount of money week for firefighters around the HURLEY — The Iron County Board of Peterson explained that Walker had some of the smaller county forests that that needs to be borrowed to fund the state, as 76 wildfires burned 133 Supervisors passed three resolutions at intended to cut a $50,000 capacity grant don’t generate the same incomes as coun- Knowles-Nelson grants, Walker’s budget acres in DNR Protection Areas. its March 31 meeting, urging state offi- that was divided among the counties to ties with more forestry land, Peterson would cut out funding for the Knowles- Debris burning was the lead- cials to either increase funding or recon- pay their dues for the Wisconsin County said. Nelson grant through at least 2028, ing cause of fires this week (27). sider cuts that Gov. Scott Walker made in Forest Association. However, when elimi- The second resolution urged Walker to according to Peterson. Cutting the fund- Other causes included equip- his proposed state budget that would nating this grant, he also eliminated the reconsider cutting funding to the state’s ing to this grant program would effective- ment (8), ash disposal (8), power impact the county forests throughout the wording that created the Forest Adminis- Knowles-Nelson Stewardship land acqui- ly halt the acquisition of land for the pur- lines (6) and a variety of other state. tration Grant, as well. sition grant program. pose of expanding county forests. causes. The first calls on the state to restore “He struck the $50,000, but he also If passed as part of the state budget, “If the county wanted to acquire any- The largest fire of the week funding for the County Forest Adminis- struck all the language that provided the the cuts would eliminate the program, thing, they would have to front the whole was 28 acres at Avoca Marsh in tration Grant Program, which was elimi- forest administrator grant. So what the which provides funds to purchase land to cost,” said Peterson. “Most counties can’t Iowa County. Three structures nated as an unintended consequence of resolution basically was, was all the be added to the county forests. Any pur- afford to do that.” other budget cuts. The grant provides county forests saying ‘hey, that’s a huge chase using Knowles-Nelson funding half the salary and up to half of the ben- dollar value.’ In fact, the county forestry requires a 50 percent match from the efits of a professional forester, which in grant — throughout the state — is a little county, either in money or additional SPRING — page 5 FOREST — page 5 SPRING HOOPS County agrees to contract with sheriff’s deputies union By RICHARD JENKINS received, there were a number of reasons [email protected] for that, Saari explained, including the HURLEY — The Iron County Board of fact the other employees had received Supervisors approved a contract with the their raises over 2014 and 2015. union representing the county’s sheriff’s “For the last 15 months, (the deputies) deputies at a recent board meeting, ending never got a raise,” Saari said. an over-a-year period that members of the In addition to forgoing the back pay, the union worked without contracts. raise was also larger because the union While the contract is for two years, it is agreed to forgo a $260-a-year payment back-dated to Jan. 1, 2014, and expires on from the county into a VEBA account that Dec. 31. can only be used for post-retirement The contract features a number of health care costs. changes from the previous one, including a The deputies also agreed to pay 3.4 per- pay raise and increase in the amount cent of their wages into their retirement deputies would be contributing to their accounts. That is less than other employ- retirements. ees contribute — 6.8 percent of their According to Iron County Clerk Michael salary, which is half the amount that goes Saari, the contract calls for deputies to toward their retirement — but more than receive a raise of 90 cents per hour from was required under Wisconsin Act 10, the first paycheck after the contract’s rati- which exempted the deputies from con- fication. However, the raise will not apply tributing anything to the retirement retroactively to any of the pay periods accounts. Pat Krause/Daily Globe since the expiration of the last contract, Union members ratified the contract BESSEMER’S SARAH Trudgeon, middle, drives to the basket as Brittany (Pertile) Schneller, right, and Caitlin (Mackey) according to Saari. prior to the meeting, putting the contract Pawlak defend the play at the 24th annual Spring Thaw Classic basketball tournament at Gogebic Community College’s While the raise was larger than the 60 into effect immediately. Lindquist Center Friday. The tournament continues today and Sunday. cents per hour other county employees C O N T A C T U S WEATHER INSIDE INDEX TODAY PONDERING PANFISH Classifieds . .12-14 Daily Globe Inc. Friday Precipitation Vol. 96, Ed. 86 118 E. McLeod Ave. High 41 To 7 a.m. Comics . .11 Sunny Wisconsin DNR to hold fish-game Community . .3 P.O. Box 548 —Details, page 2 Low 30 Friday .47 in. hearings Monday Ironwood, MI 49938 Year ago today Snowfall Obituaries . .none High 51 To 7 a.m. — Outdoors Opinion . .4 yourdailyglobe.com Low 27 Friday 3.1 in. page 8 Today’s records Snow depth 3 in. Religion . .6 906-932-2211 High 83 (1977) Season total 188.4 in. Sports . .9-10 Low 7 (1975) Last year 177 in. 2 l SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015 THE DAILY GLOBE • YOURDAILYGLOBE.COM FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR IRONWOOD NATION TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY Sunny Isolated T-storms Mostly Sunny Mostly Sunny Mostly Sunny 57º 44º 62º 39º 57º 37º 61º 44º 64º 42º Winds: 5-10 mph SW Winds: 15-20 mph S Winds: 10-15 mph SW Winds: 5-10 mph SW Winds: 5-10 mph W OUTLOOK Ontonagon 57/43 Today we will see sunny skies with a high of 57º, humidity of 39%.