The Juneau County Board Tuesday morning agreed to purchase 876-acres in northern Juneau County from Ralf Hamel in the amount of 1.4-million dollars. The acquisition of acreage along the Yellow River is contingent upon being awarded a state grant from the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Grant Program. The County’s obligation for the 50-percent matching grant is 750-thousand dollars which would be financed over 15-years by a 0% interest DNR County Forest Project Loan. The loan could be repaid using timber sales.
The second large expenditure the Board approved Tuesday morning was borrowing 1-million dollars to help finance the County’s migration to the WISCOM emergency radio system. Sheriff Brent Oleson said, “The County was federally mandated to switch to narrow band radio frequency effective January 1st, 2013. The current transmitting equipment needs upgrading. Currently the County has coverage problems in the northwest corner and in the Wonewoc area. The State has awarded Juneau County a half-million dollars towards the cost, the County will need to borrow an additional one-million.”