MARINETTE — The Marinette County Highway Trunk system is now open to ATV/UTV enthusiasts all day, year-round.
The county board last Tuesday voted 22-6-1 to make that change. Supervisors Bill Stankevich, Ken Hanson, Stan Gruszynski, Shirley Kaufman, Irene Mayou and Jim Bird voted no. Supervisor Bonnie Popp abstained and Supervisor Tom Gromala was excused.
Supervisor Ginger Deschane, also a trustee in the Village of Crivitz, said that last year the municipality opened up ATV/UTV traffic 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
“We have seen a decrease (in issues),” she said. “Personally, I don’t like ATVs, but our part of the county relies heavily on them for tourism. Tourism is our bread and butter out there, and without the ATVs and UTVs, we’re kind of sunk. I’ll support changing the ordinance to 365, 24 hours a day.”
Supervisor Bill Stankevich, a member of the Infrastructure Committee, said that the panel has been behind the issue from the start. He said he’s in favor of year-round ATV/UTV travel, although he would like to see some time limits.
“Why do they (ATV/UTVs) have to be on the roads from 1 to 7 a.m.?” he asked.
Supervisor Hank Novak, also a member of the Infrastructure Committee, said the county always seems to play the “what if” card. “I don’t see no reason for us to limit them,” he said. “If we do end up having trouble on certain roads or certain situations, they can be addressed. I’m all for 365, 24/7 with no limits.”
In another matter, the board voted against the creation of a UW-Campus Special Redevelopment Committee.
The vote failed 8-21. Voting in favor of creating the committee were: Gruszynski, Mark Anderson, Tom Buelteman, Jon Baumgarten, Allen England, Michael Ebsch, Mayou and Bird. Tom Gromala was excused.
When asked if this committee would take the matter away from the Infrastructure Committee, County Administrator John Lefebvre responded: “The way it’s stated is this committee is advisory to the Infrastructure Committee...It doesn’t mean they take it away.”
Board Chairman John Guarisco, speaking as a supervisor, said there can be frustration being on an advisory committee. “There is nothing more frustrating than being on an advisory committee, volunteering your time and effort for how many meetings, months or whatever, formulating a solution to the problem and then having a parent committee say, ‘we don’t want to do that, it’s a bad idea,’” he said.
Guarisco said he would vote against the advisory panel because he has full confidence in the Infrastructure Committee.
Gruszynski said there’s another branch to this issue. “It’s a matter of getting public input into this decision, which is a pretty serious decision, in my opinion, and I think others for Marinette County,” he said. “I would not support this if the (Infrastructure) chairman, supervisor (Roger) Allen, did not have some control over what’s being discussed here.”
He said a decision of the advisory committee would go to the Infrastructure Committee.
“This is a matter of getting the public involved,” Gruszynski said. “It’s not like they haven’t asked to be involved in this issue.”
He said this issue has to do with something every member of the county has a stake in. He said he has full confidence in Allen and the Infrastructure Committee to settle this issue.
“It (the matter) has been ping-ponged back and forth between the Infrastructure Committee and this board, so it’s obvious that we’ve got to get more public involvement,” Gruszysnki said.
Allen said there’s no need to create another level of bureaucracy. He said his committee would file reports to the board along the way.
The advisory committee would have included four County Board supervisors and three members of the public.
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