Mercer approves Shay Dam repair bid

MERCER — The town of Mercer Board of Supervisors approved a construction bid to repair Shay Dam at its regular meeting on Thursday.

The board 5-0 approved $96,183 bid from Nasi Construction LLC, to affect age-related concrete repairs to the 84-year-old dam. The damages were discovered during an annual water level drawdown in 2019. The dam is about seven miles northeast of Mercer in the Turtle River outlet where it controls the flow from Fisher Lake to Spider Lake, creating a waterfall that has become a visitor attraction. 

Dan Mortenson, a project engineer with Cooper Engineering, the town’s engineering firm for the Shay Dam project, was present to address the board on its recommendation of Nasi Construction, LLC, with an approximate bid of $96,000 for the project that is not the lowest of the four bids.

Mortenson said that Nasi Construction is crediting the town’s in-kind labor for clearing and grubbing, and site restoration in its bid. This will result in a higher credit amount in the 50% matching grant from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 

The equipment needed to be mobilized required for this work is not required for the dam repair, he said. Nasi credits the town around $26,000 for not having to mobilize the additional equipment and labor for the additional work, he said.

“When you do the math it works out very favorably for the town,” Mortenson said.

The variable for the dam construction is the deep concrete repair, he said. Once the work begins there may end up being more work needed that is not yet apparent from the surface inspection, he said.  

The board action authorizes the town public works department to do as much in-kind work as allowable under the contract.

The board took no action on a request to reduce the speed limit on U.S. 51 north of town from 55 mph to 35 mph in the area of a school bus stop. John Sendra, board chair, said there was no traffic data presented to support the change.

The board delayed a decision to consider increasing the application fee to apply for a tourist rooming house permit to reflect the administrative time involved until the next meeting. The initial request was to increase the annual fee until board members said the labor occurs during the application period and does not involve the annual fee.

The board acted 5-0 not to sell two parcels of town-owned property on West Crystal Lake Road. The request involved an area that is used as a turnaround and snow storage for city vehicles.

During the open comment portion of the meeting Bill Brundage, a member of the Mercer Sanitary District Board, asked the town board to consider that sanitary districts are specifically mentioned in the federal American Rescue Plan pandemic recovery act regarding township funding. The Mercer sanitary district is not a town department and he asked that the town be considerate when disbursing recovery funds.

The board sent the matter of changing the sign ordinance to the town planning commission for further review. The request is to allow commercial digital signage text and animation to change more frequently than is currently allowed. 

The board approved a special meeting of the town electors for 5 p.m. Thursday, June 17, at the community center with town board meeting immediately following. The meeting was scheduled at the request of the resident who attended the April 22 annual meeting, for the topic of numbering the four at-large supervisor seats so that candidates can choose to run for a specific seat rather than as a runoff for all open seats in town elections.

The board approved a $2 an hour raise for two town road crew employees following an executive session.

In other business, the board approved:

—Three bartender licenses

—Two one-day liquor licenses to the Mercer Area Chamber of Commerce for the Lupine June Fest and Fourth of July events.

—Three cemetery permits.

—The revised town employee handbook.

—Rezoning 1781W U.S. 51 South from a rural residential district to a commercial district.

—A two-bedroom tourist rooming house permit for 5321N Paul Road with provisions.

—A sign or billboard permit for B & B Storage Company of Mercer, LLC, and B & B Adventures of Mercer, LLC, at 5391 N U.S. 51. 

—A conditional use permit for a 56-foot by 42-foot accessory building at N5809 S Great Northern Trails.

—Scheduling a town Board of Review for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 1. 

—Postponing scheduling a town board of review date.

—Postponing two ATV Club requests for support to purchase gravel to repair area trails, and for legal trail access to a resort until legal counsel could be present.

The next regular meeting of the town board will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20, at the Mercer Community Center.