Clifton reluctantly accepts fire deal

Talk about it

The Clifton Town Board voted to accept the city of River Falls’ proposal for fire services at its Oct. 5 regular meeting.

While town supervisors voiced concern about the city having the upper hand in the new agreement, they see the deal as the only option for now.

Chairman Leroy Peterson said the town cannot afford to start its own fire association, so this seems to be the only way to go.

Peterson said after a lot of negotiating, the city gave concessions, such as adding $161 million in equalized values for university property, a 35/65 split of the fire budget (down from the original 40/60 split), and allowing two representatives from the towns on the fire association board, along with three city representatives.

The city is buying the Rural Fire Association’s equipment for $225,000. Peterson said that is a better alternative right now than being forced to buy a $500,000 fire truck in the near future.

According to Peterson, the RFA consists of part of the town of Clifton, part of the town of Kinnickinnic, part of the town of Troy and all of the town of River Falls.

Combined, there are about 2,000 fire-number addresses to cover, Peterson said.

“We’ll see what happens in the next five years,” Peterson said.

The Town Board also agreed to recommend a conditional use permit to the county for the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust. KRLT wants to put up new signs at the entrance to the Jackson Preserve, a 45-acre site in the middle of the lower canyon of the Kinnickinnic River. A 66-foot wide easement connects it to County Road FF just east of 1130th Street.

The property was bought from Eric and Jerilyn Jackson using Wisconsin DNR stewardship funds.

The signs would include a map of the preserve, rules of use for the area, contact information and warnings about lack of cell phone reception in the canyon.

A gate and two boulders would also prevent motor traffic.

The Town Board approved the following building permits:

--Bryan Schuster, W11186 748th St., to finish a basement.

--Carole Mottaz, N8231 1155th St., to build on top of an existing deck.

--Chris Tashjian, N8784 1060th St., for two additions to include a screened porch, mud room and theater room.

--Van Stockwell, W12264 State Hwy. 29, for a new house, contingent on receiving a land-use permit and sanitary permit.

Tags: communities, clifton, government