ELLSWORTH — After discussing $1,574,982.38 in grant funding received for Wall and Morse streets work, the Ellsworth Village Board decided to decrease special assessment percentages for property owners on Wall, Morse and Broadway streets for the East End area redesign March 2.

Cedar Corporation’s Russ Kiviniemi spoke to the grant, saying it was written in 2023 and awarded in February 2024. The grant was to support agricultural business, largely due to the streets being used by the Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, as well as a handful of other area ag businesses.

While the grant was awarded solely for the Wall and Morse Street repairs, the board opted to evenly disperse the assessment percentages with the Broadway Street assessments. The grant covers 87.7% of Morse and Wall Street reconstruction for the streets and sidewalks, with 12.3% up to the village and property owners. After combining percentages with Broadway Street costs, the board decided to approve diverging from the usual 50/50 assessment split for curb, gutter and sidewalk work in favor of the village taking on 75% and the property owners 25%. As it is not impacted by the grant, water and sewer work will remain at a 50/50 split. Driveway aprons will hold at 100% on property owners.

Village Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer Brad Roy said assessments previously received in the mail will see decreases after altering the percentage of cost the village will take on. Kiviniemi said they aimed for the originally mailed assessments to be conservatively high to prepare for worst case scenarios in construction bids.

“We were told 87% of the cost of this whole project was going to be covered, and then the village is covering 50%, so 50% of what’s left, we’re talking hundreds of dollars, not thousands. Mine is $10,000,” Broz Bar Owner Jason Marks said. “I’m all for the project. I don’t want it to get delayed.”

Marks said he approves of the streets and sidewalks being improved, but the assessments seemed higher than he thought they should have been based on the percentage breakdown.

Kiviniemi recommended the assessments be balanced between Broadway, Morse and Wall streets businesses. Some business owners said Morse and Wall Street properties should be the beneficiaries of the grant, as they were the businesses the grant was awarded to.

“People are going to park on Broadway that are going to the Morse Street businesses and going to the other businesses,” Trustee Jarod Traynor said in support of including Broadway properties. “I guess we just try to make it as even across the board as possible.”

Traynor said businesses on all three streets will benefit from the work done on the others, and getting people into the area is good for everyone. He requested that Broadway properties be included into the decreased assessments, with the board following.

Multiple Broadway Street property owners spoke against the 14-foot sidewalks and switch to parallel parking on the street.

“I have never gotten a notice of anything about changing on Broadway, and I have elderly people coming in, how are they going to parallel park,” Hair Traffic Control’s Fay Albarado said. “Just because you have it on Main Street, do we have to do it on Broadway?”

While there is an overall parking gain of one space in the project, some of the spaces are being pulled off Broadway Street and relocated to new spaces north of Wall Street and further west on Wall Street. Albarado said parking being relocated makes it difficult for some people to walk from their space to the shops.

“The 14-feet sidewalk is ridiculous. Do you guys shovel your own sidewalks? Or from one corner to the other? And you’re expecting us to? If you want to cut costs, why are you doing 14-feet [sidewalks],” Albarado said. “We do need to fix our roads, yes, and our sidewalks, but overdoing it is another thing.”

Multiple business owners mentioned feeling left in the dark until the assessments came in the mail, missing the window to provide input on the area’s redesign. Trustee Tony Hines said there have been 15 public meetings on the topic, three newsletters sent out, newspaper submissions and Facebook posts every step of the way.

One property owner asked if the village could continue the Morse and Wall Street constructions using the grant funding, and delay the Broadway Street work a year to spend more time with property owners coming up with a solution. The board opposed the proposal due to engineering costs the village would incur to scrap the designs and go back to the drawing board for another year, and the increased construction costs from waiting a year and completing the project over two separate summers.

The board unanimously approved the assessment percentages with the exception of absent Trustees Ryan Bench and Andrew Borner. The final design of the East End reconstruction was also approved at the meeting, ushering in the bid stage.

Kiviniemi said Cedar Corporation will go out for bids over the next month and come back in April to the board with results.

If bids come in lower than anticipated, the grant funding would see a proportionate decrease. The grant is capped if the bids come in higher than expected. Assessment terms will be 15 years at 6.431% (2% over the borrowing rate). Property owners have the right to pay off assessments sooner than the term requires.

Other business

• Approved the rezoning of property for Gerrard Corporation for a 36-unit senior housing development, neighboring their 54-unit apartment building in Crossing Meadows. The rezoning was from Residential R-2 to Multi-Family R-3.
• Approved temporary retail licensing, a street use permit, a street dance license and a sponsorship for the Cheese Curd Festival 2026 (Beissel abstained).
• Kwik Trip construction in Crossing Meadows is expected to begin near the end of March.
• Renewed a contract with All Croix Inspections for building inspection and zoning administrator services through March 2028.
• Approved a $15,370 generator bid from Adams (Hines opposed) and a $7,943 bid from Sunnylink for Village Board computers.