It was a gray and dreary sight overhead this past Tuesday, June 9 after eight p.m. when the Thorp Town Board met at its local government headquarters along Highway X at Koser Avenue. With all five board members plus the town roads man Loren Gulcynski in attendance, a single member of the public had also shown up to witness the historic occasion. In just the fourth occurrence since weather records started being kept at the end of the 19th century, tropical weather was on its way to Wisconsin, per a Flroida news station called Fox 4 news. Another source reported four inches of rain were expected from Tropical Storm Cristobal as it blew through the Stanley area. Turning in a slight northeasterly curve towards Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Cristobal brought a cold light rain to the Thorp area and surroundings. Inside the township hall meanwhile, the board met behind plastic shields to stay clear of another type of rain—potentially random spittle of the COVID-19 transmitting variety. Evidence of recent virus related election precautions was still visible at the town hall when press stopped by to cover the June meeting. Dial in for curbside voting service!

These be strange times. That said, the meeting proper was more routine for spring in the Stanley Country, focused as it was on roads and building construction. Chairman Louis Andruszkiewicz led things out for the night.

“Reports,” he said. “What do you guys have for reports? Jack?” Town Supervisor Jack Leja took the cue.

“Let me see,” he said. “Now our setback is 40 width…is going to do something on the corner of Junction and Center,” he said of property boundaries. “Now the setback is 75 feet from the edge of our grater…, correct?” Leja said, getting confirmation from Andruszkiewicz, before going on. “We’re 108 feet from the center of the road,” he said, otherwise known as being potentially too close. Clerk Arlene Kodl brought up that the township ordinance said owners stay 75 feet away from “any lot line,” with this line held to be from the center of the road. Further stipulated is that construction be 42 feet from the ditch, which seemed too close to the road for some. Was 42 feet enough for visibility to stop if needed when pulling out from behind a big building? The property construction talk went on with various owners and an instance or two from Leja of the word “evidently,” traced to the source meaning “out of sight,” though not used according to this literal root definition. In addition, it was shared that one land owner had asked Leja if they needed to have a culvert at the top of a hill, while for another there was talk of whether or not a survey marker had been previously evident on site, though now not seen. One of the board members would make an inquiry with a more knowledgeable party to make sure. Then it was on to roads.

“Ok, what else?” Andruszkiewicz asked. Leja shared that his dust control had reportedly worked well, while town roads man Gulcynski concurred. “We couldn’t have timed this better,” he said. Dust control along gravel roads helps to keep the roadway evident and in sight during the summer heat and dryness, among other things. A bid had come in estimating $6,100 for two miles of crack filling from Highway 73 to Dickerson Avenue, which many of the town board members considered a good deal, given that the township had previously spent in the double digit thousands of dollars the previous year on a stretch of road “from 73 to the dairy.” At the time, the road patch in question had more cracks than any other one in the township. Among the other road discussion items was a ditch that one resident had dug to drain a swamp for farming that went to a road, but should have been to the railroad tracks it was made known. Andruszkiewicz said that he didn’t want water on both sides of the road, given the pressure this would exert on a thoroughfare. After the town board talked for a while on possible road project grant applications, Kodl said that the township couldn’t get “both the MLS and TRID,” and that it had received the MLS grant for another project. “Everyone would have gotten this,” she said of a letter to the township. For his part, Gulcynski said that the letter almost sounded like a new round of road applications, which hadn’t been verified or disproven as of the meeting date June 9. Andruszkiewicz said that the town couldn’t apply for the same road, but that it had seemed the same to him as to Gulcynski.

Meanwhile, Town Treasurer Rita Derks had already sent out the dust control bills prior to meeting time, while it was further reported that someone had been shorted 67 feet of calcium chloride and would be rebilled for only 233 feet worth of the chemical. Thorp town meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of the month at 8:00 p.m., at the town hall where Koser forms a T-intersection with Highway X.