Schroeder Township is somewhat unique because it owns several roads, and the township is responsible to maintain and take care of them.
In an effort to set a timeline and budget for maintenance and improvements, the township board of supervisors established a Road and Bridge committee made up of Supervisors Bruce Martinson and Bill McKeever, Town Clerk Doug Schwecke, Charlie Muggley and Rick Anderson.
The township also established a budget of $50,000 per year to spend on road upkeep and preservation.
The committee has been meeting since last fall and conducted several examinations of roads and culverts, noting the work that needed to be done.
Rick Anderson gave an update to the supervisors at the June 14 town meeting.
Anderson said the committee felt the biggest need was repairing the Town Hall parking lot. Next on the list of priorities was putting new gravel on the Sugar Loaf Road, replacing a culvert near the Tom Somnis residence, and then paving the Baragas Cross Road and Schroeder Tote Road.
The board agreed to hire a local contractor to make repairs on the parking lot. Before a cost can be determined, the parking lot paving must be removed to see why it is failing in several places.
The supervisors tabled re-graveling the Sugar Loaf Road because Isak Hansen Hardware hasn’t put the crusher in place in Schroeder this summer.
A culvert may be put in, but first McKeever is going to check with the Cook County Highway Department to see if they have any culverts that are going to be brought into the county. If Schroeder can have the 48-foot by 60-inch oblong culvert brought up with the county’s delivery, it could save the township some money on what would now be a $900 transportation cost.
McKeever also asked that a letter be sent to Somnis asking if he would allow the culvert to be stored on his property until it can be put in place. Anderson said he would contact Somnis to see if he would agree to that. The other projects will be put on hold until next year.
Skou Road questions
In a related report at the July 19 town meeting, Anderson said two homeowners asked him about a misfit culvert on Skou Road that wasn’t working well anymore, and both homeowners thought the township might own the culvert.
Bill McKeever said the culvert was most likely owned by the DNR, and probably wasn’t the township’s responsibility. Board Chair Tina McKeever said the property owners should contact the DNR, and she made a motion seconded by Martinson to have the homeowners prove that the culvert is on Schroeder Township land before the township tries to fix the problem.
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