Tim Stockman from Davy Engineering called into the Hollandale Village Board meeting Tuesday, March 3 to give the board more updates on the water quality trading portion of the upgrades needed for the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
The village needs to be in compliance with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources restrictions on the effluent amount of phosphorus at their WWTP by 2027. In order to reduce that amount, the village has been looking into doing some water quality trading. If projects done on properties upstream from the village help reduce some of the phosphorus into the WWTP, the village will get water quality trading credits to help change the restrictions on the effluent amount of phosphorus.
There are three different projects happening around the WWTP. Stockman said the highest priority is the water quality trading. That will dictate what the village will need to do to the WWTP. They are working on watershed projects on Todd Leonard’s property. They are working with FEMA and have submitted hydraulic and hydrology (H&H) analysis. Once that is approved they will make a design of all the sites on the property for their watershed projects. The projects will help prevent erosion on the banks of the Upper West Branch of the Pecatonica River and that will in turn give the village their credits.
They are hoping to get the results of the H&H study back in two weeks. That has been the hold up for all the approvals and designs from the state and county. They are hoping to get everything approved and have bids out this spring. Stockman is optimistic that this will all be done by this summer.
Board president Meta Chrostowski asked if there were any weather related issues that could delay having the water quality trading projects completed on Leonard’s land. Stockman didn’t think so but he said there was the issue of the Blanchard Cricket frog and its habitat. They will be working on seeing if there are any restrictions due to time frames on when they can work on the land due to the frog’s breeding period.
Chrostowski asked how much would the projects on the Leonard’s property cost the village. The updated cost of the construction of the projects and the design is around $261,000. The construction costs are around $209,000 and administrative (permits, design, legal) costs is around $52,000. These are estimated costs. These costs all depending on how much the county will be paying for and if the village will be using a funding program to pay for them. That is less than what was originally reported but they are only doing Leonard’s property and not working on Prairie Enthusiasts property. How that gets paid for will have to be discussed.
Stockman suggested avoiding the Clean Water Fund program due to requirements and restrictions, along with additional costs. He understands that this is a large dollar amount but wants to wait until they get the approval from FEMA. If they don’t have that, they don’t have a project. Carl Olson asked if they were eligible to get funding through NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service). Stockman said that NRCS is paying for about two or three of the sites but wasn’t sure what percentage they will be covering. Stockman said it was worth asking to see if they were going to cover other portions of the project.
Financing for the WQT projects and the WWTP upgrades could be tricky but there are ways to get funding for both. Stockman said that the USDA Rural Development typically won’t fund WQT projects unless they are rolled into the WWTP projects. But keeping the projects separate would allow more grant funding to be provided for the WWTP project.
The village can’t use any grant funding for WQT projects because grants won’t fund those. They will have to use low interest loans, like those from the Clean Water Loan Fund. Stockman stated that that loan fund is better off used for larger projects, like $2-3 million projects. For smaller projects, the village might be better off going to their local bank and getting a low interest loan.
Stockman said that the USDA Rural Development would not fund WQT projects as a stand alone but could have it rolled into another project like the WWTP project. The other issue is there has been some drastic funding cuts to USDA Rural Development now. The good thing is these projects are most likely not going to happen until next year or even the year after, like for the WWTP.
Stockman’s main concern was on getting information back on the WQT so they know what will need to be done to the WWTP. If the village doesn’t get the WQT, the lagoon system will not meet the limits that the DNR has put on them. He said there might be ways to keep the variance for up to three permit terms but then the WWTP would have to be upgraded, and that could potentially cost a lot more money.
After getting all the information from the WQT projects, they will need to finish submitting the facility plan and possibly make an amendment. Clerk/treasurer Holly DeWitt stated she has been working with someone from Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP) about preplanning grants. These funds would be only to fund pre-plans for the facility planning upgrades, paying for engineering costs that the village has been paying for and accruing currently. The village could get up to $30,000. If the village is going to use this grant, they would expect the village to use grant funding through USDA Rural Development for the rest of the project.
Chrostowski asked about villages or municipalities with financial constraints. Stockman said that they look at their median household income and current sewer rates. They will be expected to raise their current sewer rates up to the typical regional amount within two percent of the median household income. He said the person the village has help write the grants for them can help advocate for a higher percentage of grant funding to help pay more of the project. The average is 20-45 percent grant depending on the municipalities situations and raising the rates to help pay for the project.
It is a long process but the village is not at that stage yet.
One thing the DNR has asked the village to do is a Sanitary Sewer Evaluation Survey (SSES). Within that study is to televise and find any places with infiltration and inflow of water into the sewer system. There was a problem that was fixed by Tri- State last year that occurred under HWY 39 near the Corner Mart. The flows have been considerable less than they were in 2025. Public Works Director Jerry Dosecher agreed that the flows have gone down quite a bit. They need to get documentation from Tri-State to get that information and put it in a brief report and send it to the DNR and hopefully that will take care of the infiltration and inflow part of the survey. This survey will help have the village keep their existing ponds.
Stockman will be coming and talking with the village in person to show the plans and specs for the projects and go through it more in detail.
“There is a lot of stuff involved in this. I wish it wasn’t that complicated so it would be less cost. There is a lot of pieces to this puzzle,” Stockman said.
Public Works
All of the improvements to the well house and the software to the water tower have been fixed. Well #2 had been having issues. Doescher stated he had Peerless Well & Pump Inc. coming to check it out. He thought it was either a seal or a bearing. It will have to be pulled to see what is the issue. The last time it was pulled was in 2021. The DNR permit states that the wells need to be pulled every seven years. Pulling it now would only be five years.
The well is not as deep as well #1. Doescher was unaware of the cost it would be to pull the well or what is wrong to tell the board the cost to fix it. The well had to be pulled to figure out what was wrong.
Doescher did state that well #2 does not have any casing on it. He was guessing it would need casing but didn’t think that would need to happen now. Well #1 was pulled last year and cost around $19,000 but that was a deeper well and had quite a bit of work that had to be done on it. He suggested the village do the bare minimum on the well. He said he would let the board know right away of what is the issue.
Part of the rock wall collapsed. There hasn’t been much talk on if the County was able to get the TAP grant to redo the sidewalk along County K/Hwy 39 so Doescher has just stabilized the structure for now.
Spring dumpster clean up day will be April 25 from 7:30 a.m .- 12:00 p.m. at the county shop building on Hwy 39.
Soccer will be taking place at the park from April 6-May 9.
Clerk-treasurer
The lighting at the village hall was done.
Boom Boom Fireworks stated they should be able to do the fireworks show for Hollandale on July 12.
The next board meeting date has changed to April 1 at 6:30 p.m. due to the election.
Other business
The board received a letter from the Blanchardville EMS department stating that Chief Emily Weidge and Assistant Chief Kevin Jayne resigned from their post as of Monday night, March 2. Blanchardville EMS helps cover the village of Hollandale. Blanchardville EMS is having a hard time finding EMTs, AEMTs, and Paramedics to cover calls. As mentioned in several articles discussing this topic, this issue is taking place all across the
state. The last information known is Blanchardville EMS is working with Belleville EMS, a full time staffed emergency medical service, to be paged at the same time as Blanchardville to make sure they are able to get a crew. If Blanchardville does not get a crew, Belleville EMS will continue to come and cover that call. Hollandale EMS is working with Blanchardville EMS. Nothing has been planned or reported. The village board questioned having
Belleville EMS making it to Hollandale to help. Everything is still up in the air.
The board discussed what to apply for grant funding from the Blanchardville/Hollandale Area Fund. Rob Massey stated he would get quotes on having the siding of the village hall/Legion building redone so the board could apply for that.
The board also approved:
– Closing the alley behind KAMPs on June 13.