“Hi Jack? This is Jerry. You made the winning bid,” Supervisor Jerry Czubakowski announced via a cord-tethered phone receiver during the Taft Town Hall meeting on Tuesday, July 21. Jack was from Stanley. Supervisor Czubakowski of Taft was calling to notify Jack that he had gotten some items the township had put up for sale, among them an old safe and a set of lawn chairs. Jack needed to get a hold of Chairman Darrel Thompson to claim the merchandise. With the congratulatory phone call being made, it was on to new business!

The Taft Town Board met prior to adjournment Tuesday July 21 down at the old district schoolhouse on County F at Meridean. With the old church pews spaced for proper social distancing in case anyone should stop by, answering to the roll call were Chairman Darrell Thompson, Treasurer Lana Knox, Clerk Lori Czubakowski, and Town Supervisors Jerry Czubakowski and Del Kroeplin. No members of the public were in attendance at the open door meeting Tuesday as it turned out, though in the distance a storm was brewing on the horizon. In no time flat, there would be rain.

“644 isn’t a long distance number from here,” Treasurer Lana Knox offered of the Stanley area prefix as Czubakowski prepared to call Tuesday. The call being made successfully, it was on to road maintenance. The Chairman had called Olynick’s and Haas to get thoughts on gravel for a mile of roadway.

“That’s about all I have for road maintenance,” the Chairman reported. Meanwhile down at the Foxx Den bar south on Meridean, changes were reported as potentially afoot. The owner wanted to put in some more parking space, and the building was undergoing changes, although with the same footprint. The big question for supervisor purposes was, who to enforce if something went wrong?

“I don’t want that, you don’t want that, and you don’t want that,” the Chairman said as he addressed members at a distance about still more town government duties alongside their day jobs, meaning that with no change enforcement of a speed change and signage at the Foxx Den would fall back onto Taylor county, headquartered in far-away Medford. The township opted to hold off on action related to the establishment near Mitterhoffer until next meeting, scheduled as usual for the third Tuesday of the month, or August 18th. Meanwhile, there was the Wisconsin Election CARES sub-grant to consider for expenses related to COVID.

“Covid hasn’t really cost us as a township,” Clerk Lori Czubakowski reported, saying there had been no one put in isolation as of yet nor known to have caught the virus after attending a town board meeting in Taft. The virus threat meanwhile, was right next door, with Chippewa County to the west full of pink and light red per census tract data at the Wisconsin Department of Public Health, while Clark County to the south was filling up fast, with five of eight census districts affected by COVID, with easy road access into Taft above. With 128 registered voters in Taft out of a total population from last 2010 census of 435—soon to the updated—Taft township took second place after Wilson for its mask wearing ratio, with 1/3 of July town meeting attendees wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to the meeting down at the old schoolhouse. Chairman Thompson directed the town clerk to apply for whatever Taft might be eligible for. Next up on the public meeting agenda after possible COVID grant funds was dust control, with a slight demand issue: although some township residents in Taft had expressed interest, there wasn’t enough interest to pay for a complete load of calcium chloride, able to do thirty residences at a standard length of 300 road feet.

“It’s too late this year,” Knox reported of dust control measures reportedly spearheaded by Thorp township this spring, as it was reported that four or five Taft residents had expressed interest in one place, while Del Kroeplin said that five or six wanted the measure in his section. “And everyone wants it if it’s free,” Chairman Thompson said, sharing that he had used a measuring wheel to mark out treatment areas, then faced criticism when the treated area was two to ten feet short

Staff photo.

Staff photo. of what residents had paid for. For those County Line residents seeking services southward, payment was expected up front, as there was no other way to guarantee reimbursement outside of the service provider’s jurisdiction. Meanwhile, another unspecified treatment option from Menards was reported to be substandard in its effectiveness to calcium chloride (CaCl2), though not specified as to its chemical makeup. One possible category would be Ligneous Sulfonate, a wood salt said to last a fraction of the time of the hardier CaCl2. Meanwhile, the town recycling program was at least going strong, as reported by Kroeplin.

How’s recycling?” Thompson asked the supervisor.

“Doing good,” Kroeplin reported. On the way home Tuesday, cell phones started going off in a blaring fashion: the National Weather service had just issued a local tornado warning until 9:45 CST, Central Standard Time. With dark clouds building but no obvious funnel shapes yet visible on the local Taft/Thorp border, it was advisable to make it home, lest stormy weather leave one in the lurch.

Further to the west, the village of Cadott was about to sustain a visit from strong rotating winds later classed at EFO twister level, —but that was not yet known.

The clouds were mixed at Pine Road recently on the way to Taft township. While the Stanley-Boyd district avoided any major damage, a tornado was reported that same night in Cadott from teh stormy weather.