There was no public present at the Town of Thorp’s August meeting outside press, but that didn’t mean it was dull.

“If you have people calling to ask what I’m doing, there’s a reason,” town roads employee Loren Gulcynski informed the Thorp town board at its otherwise regular monthly session held Wednesday August 12. With the growing season not yet over but looking to save time for the expected crunch come October, Gulcynski said that he was planning to get his third grass cutting done in the town ditches—but only in the very bottom parts that wouldn’t grow back to road level by late fall, when cutting was normally done. The rest of the road cutting would come later, in September.

Moving its monthly meeting time forward a day to not conflict with the partisan primary held on Tuesday August 11, the Town of Thorp board met prior to adjournment Wednesday, August 12 at the town hall located at the intersection of Koser Avenue with County Highway X. Present to give their thoughts or updates at the meeting were Treasurer Rita Derks; Clerk Arlene Kodl; Supervisors Jack Leja and Andy Slowiak, Chairman Louis Andruszkiewicz, and town roads employee Loren Gulcynski. A physically distanced visual revealed that half were wearing face coverings, while half were not. At the same time, sanitizing agents were abundant, including a bottle of “Twin Oxide” said to “smell like plain water.” Unrelated to COVID measures, though, there was also a grader issue to report on.

“So I’m just warning you we could have a serious issue with that grader,” Gulcynski went on with his report to the board of town road equipment. With the last three lab tests for the town grader oil scoring four, five, and even seven times above the high mark for “normal” copper levels measured in parts per million, it was time to consider getting another road machine. “He told me to get rid of it,” Gulcynski said of the advice from the lab tester in Green Bay.

“There goes your road,” another town associate present on Tuesday said of the grader news’ impact on township finances. With Supervisor Andy Slowiak later raising the prospect of a second opinion, Gulcynski said that sampling and shipping for the regular tests was free, but that the cost was in the bottles, and brand wasn’t optional.

“You have to use their bottles,” he said of CAT as the current lab used by the township. A second opinion from Deere would be no different, meaning increased cost for potentially similar results. Gulcynski said that if nothing was done the grader could break down in a snowstorm this winter and be out for two months, and that the township couldn’t clear the roads with its truck alone. The current machine with high copper levels in its oil is from 2007, with 8500 hours logged on it. Another 20 hours would allow for a seventh test, with these spaced 100 road hours apart. Nevertheless, the decision on whether to purchase a new machine wasn’t for the township road department to make.

“That’s between you and your taxpayers,” Gulcynski told the board proper of whether they should get a new machine prior to winter. Meanwhile, with roads dry and dusty, Gulcynski said he had made the mistake of trying to get some road grading done on County Line followed by Junction recently, with the result that dust made it hard to see the end of the blade. “It’s got to be wet, and it’s got to be saturated,” he said of proper grading conditions. Otherwise the town roads suffered. With that it was into the report from Town Clerk Arlene Kodl, and shared revenue numbers.

The Town of Thorp had received $8,367.15 in shared revenue for July, Clerk Kodl reported to the rest of the town board, with another $47,413.88 scheduled to come in November. Meanwhile, two signs announcing “Children at Play” would cost the township $26.56 each, with 2 ½ dollars a foot for the post, two per sign. Signs were available from the prison at relatively low cost, while some town’s association meetings had moved online, lest gathering on site for continued board education lead to a COVID emergency. But there was more.

“I got a letter from the Department of Revenue that they miscalculated the personal property aid in 2019,” Kodl reported, “so your 2021 payment may be lower or higher than you expected,” she said, finishing with, “they’ll let us know.” Additionally, it was reported that some town residents were building, but there weren’t any building permits to approve.

“I never know if they’re going to bring them in,” Kodl said of official procedure prior to the start of new construction.

In better news perhaps, the township fire dues were paid for the year as of August, while area resident John Ciolkosz had also reportedly helped with re-ditching on Pine Road, making the artificial valley deeper and wider on the field side of said road. Returning to grader expenses, Gulcynski reported that from an initial $1,500 in blades and bolts the price of ordinary township grader maintenance had been reduced to just $500. But as for needing saturated roads to level things out, the Town of Thorp received a good downpour within days of the town meeting, allowing for potentially better grading opportunities, with winter fast approaching.

The next Town of Thorp board meeting is scheduled to be on September 8th at 8:00 p.m., junction of Koser and County X.

Photo by Joseph Back.