This has been a busy year for your Town government.

Funding continues to be an issue. Our levy is limited, but our costs for services and materials continue to increase. We are working with the surrounding Towns to share equipment and staff to keep costs down. We have been working with the other municipalities on the Oregon Area Fire/EMS District to improve the financial state of the District.

The Town has been working on several projects.

After multiple years of work with DOT, the drainage system along Highways 92 and 14 has now been rebuilt by DOT and its contractors. The Town and the Village of Brooklyn are jointly responsible for the maintenance. As costs are incurred, the Town will pass these costs back to the benefited property owners on per acre basis.

We had more discussions with the City of Stoughton regarding the boundary areas, especially the area along Highway 51. No boundary agreement has been reached. We will be working with the Capital Area Planning Commission (CARPC), the City, and the four Towns surrounding Stoughton a Future Urban Development Area (FUDA) Study. This study is intended to identify the amount of land Stoughton is likely to need for expansion over the next 25 years.

The Town rebuilt the south half of Center Road this past summer. We also repaved Bass Lake Court. We will be rebuilding the north half of Sunrise Road next summer. We have other roads that need to be rebuilt, including the remaining portions of Old Stone Road (mostly on the eastern end), Windmill Road, Hildreth Road, the north half of Starr School Road, Oak Lane Road and Union Dane Road. There are roads within Ol' Stone Estates that also need to be repaired or rebuilt. We have typically only had enough budget to rebuild one mile or so a year, so it will take many years to get through this list. We are also working on crack filling and chip sealing each year to maintain the roads that have already been rebuilt to current standards.

We have also heard recently from DOT that they have two projects underway in our area. The first is a corridor study on Highway 138, which is aimed at increasing the safety of the corridor. The other is a resumption of the design process for US 14 south of Highway 138. This project has been started and stopped multiple times. For a few years, DOT had US 14 on its schedule for 2016, but lack of funds has now delayed that construction until 2018. The US 14 design work continues, with a completion date of late 2014; should funds become available, construction could still be done during 2016. As part of the rebuild of US 14 south of Highway 138, the DOT is considering a Park'n'Ride lot at 14 and 138, as well as other options for the termination of the north end of current US 14.

There has been no progress with DOT on a change for the Deer Point/Roby Road/Highway 51 intersection. A final decision on the DOT Highway 51 Study (from Coachman's to McFarland) is expected by mid-2014 (including all inter-agency approvals). That study should allow improvements to be scheduled for Highway 51, including the intersection. Fund availability and accident rates will factor into DOT's scheduling of any improvements. My best wishes for a safe and happy new year.

Sincerely,