City of Hartford weekly update by City Administrator Steve Volkert – timeline on implementation of Reliever Route

Feb. 6, 2017 – Hartford, WI – Administrator’s Comments: I am working with the Joint #1 School District to discuss safe transportation to school. We will explore sidewalk and crossing guard issues as we look to renegotiate a new crossing guard contract. Due to the inability to find qualified applicants for guards, the school has had to fill in with much higher priced employees which has doubled the overall program cost. As we continue to see new subdivisions added to the city, safe pedestrian options will continue to be our top priority to prevent future hardships on our schools.
Teledoc services introduced to staff to reduce health care costs: At our annual employee benefits fair earlier in January, we introduced the Teledoc service to staff in which they could use their smart phone or desktop computer to conduct an actual appointment with a licensed physician. This service, much like Skyping, allows you to have a verbal or face to face meeting with a doctor wherever you are at for many minor situations without having to go into the doctor’s office, clinic or urgent care. This system saves employees time, and both the City and employees money. We have already had a handful of employees use the service and have had great results.
Hwy 60 Reliever Route schedule laid out: County Administrator Schoemann has presented the schedule for future meetings regarding the Hwy 60 Reliever Route.
February 7th – Joint meeting with County Executive & PW to discuss preliminary engineering study to ask them to move to County board option of changing mapped route from Arthur Road to Hwy K.
February 14th – Full County Board votes on change of mapped route.
February 21 – Joint Executive/PW committee reviews the UW-Whitewater Economic Impact study
February 28th – UW Whitewater study goes to public information meeting
March (Date to be determined) – Joint Executive/PW committee discusses weather to move forward with the actual project.
March/April – Full County Board reviews study and make decision on implementing building of reliever route.
2016 Focus On Energy produces big savings for businesses and residents: The annual report for Focus on Energy showed that 168 Hartford Electric customers participated in the program saving over 2.25 Million kilowatts of electric energy and earning over $180k in incentives. These savings come from replacing lights, new energy efficient appliances, new programmable thermostats and much more. WPPI is vigilant on working with all of our customers on ways to save money and get paid/incentives to do so.
New Bridge goes in over River in Bernd Park: The installation of the new bridge over Bernd park behind the Fire Dept has been completed. The actual approaches to the bridge will be done by staff in Spring.
Salt supply still good even with unseasonably wet winter: Public Works Director Darryl Kranz reports their salt supply is still in reasonable shape despite having to spread much more than in previous years due to excessive snow and ice on local roads. In the past two years, salt was left in shelter after mild winters. This year, many communities are running out with all of the freezing rain and iced roads. While we have greatly increased the amount of salt going down, the supply should suffice for the remainder of the winter