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UTILITIES AND COMMUNITY FACILITIES Introduction Residents of the Town of Spring
Brook currently utilize services and facilities needed to support this
rural agricultural township. Their
concerns about safety, health, mobility, education, and recreation are
met, for the most part, by existing local and area services and infrastructure.
Community facilities cover a wide range of services
but generally they fit into one of the following categories; health
and safety (fire, ambulance, police etc.) educational (school districts)
and political (voting districts, incorporated villages, unincorporated
villages, sanitary districts, etc.) This element examines the services that allow
current residents to enjoy a high quality of life and make the Town
of Spring Brook attractive to potential new residents. Basic
Objectives
The intent of this element is to provide information
on the facilities and services currently available to the Township. This information will help determine whether
additional facilities and services are needed to maintain the high quality
of life the community desires. The
structure and content of this element is based on the following objectives:
Selected Survey Results According to the responses to the first survey sent
by the Town of Spring Brook, a large majority of residents feel we do
not need more or expanded green spaces or public lands.
Water Facilities There is no public water system within the Township.
Residents get potable water from private wells.
The nearest public water systems are in the City of Wastewater Facilities There is no public sanitary sewer system within the
Township. The sanitary sewer
needs of residents are met through private septic systems. Storm Water Management Facilities A storm sewer system is not available in the Town of
Spring Brook. Storm water is
dispersed using the natural contours of the land in most sections of
the township. Drainage flowing down local creeks eventually enters the
Solid Waste Disposal/Recycling The Town of Spring Brook is a member of the Dunn County
Solid Waste and Recycling Program. The County issues a solid waste permit
to each household receiving tax statements in the township. The permit is required to use the solid waste
disposal facilities. There are
a total of nine facilities throughout the county. It is a fee-based
program and as a member, the residents of the town have access to all
of the county facilities. The closest facilities for Town of Spring
Brook residents are the Elk Mound Area collection site located on A
maximum of 99 gallons of household waste may be disposed of per visit
without additional fees. Large
or bulky objects being disposed of will likely require an additional
fee charged at the time of disposal.
A fee schedule can be found in the Dunn County Solid Waste and
Recycling Guide that is issued annually with the Town of Spring Brook
tax statement. Burning of garbage
is illegal in Metal objects, even large items, can be disposed of
at no additional charge if they meet the requirements. There are recycling bins for certain plastics,
tin cans, glass (must be separated by color), aluminum cans, corrugated
paper, and newspaper. There is
also a facility for collecting used motor oil. For more information, please refer to the Dunn County
Solid Waste/Recycling Guide that is provided along with the annual Town
of Spring Brook tax statement or contact the Dunn County Solid Waste
Division. Recreation Facilities (Points of Interest map for
location) 1. The Elk Meadow 4H club maintains
a softball diamond on 2. There is a public boat landing
on the north side of the 3.
There is a public boat landing on the north side of the 4.
There is a public boat landing, swimming and picnic area on 5.
The Muddy Creek Public Hunting land is located in sections 5
and 6 of township 27N, range 11W. 6.
There is DNR land in section 10 of township 26N, range 12W. 7.
Library Services There are four public libraries in There is an online catalog of all the books available
through the system. The MORE
Library System has a website, or information is available by phoning
any of the participating libraries for more information. IFLS operates the Library Books-By-Mail (LBBM) program
which loans paperback books, in both regular and large print formats,
to people living within the Indianhead Federated Library System (IFLS)
area who have difficulty getting to or using a public library. Books
are listed in catalogs and booklists and are loaned through the mail
with their return postage included.
Police Services The Dunn County Sheriff's Department provides public
safety services to the Township as part of their overall protection
responsibility for the county. These
services include 24-hour law enforcement, process service, court security,
and jail facilities. The numbers of personnel given are as of winter 2003-2004.
The Department is divided into several divisions.
One of the largest is the Patrol Division, which includes 11
patrol deputies, 3 patrol sergeants, and one patrol lieutenant.
This group provides field services throughout the county. While on patrol they provide security checks
and enforcement of traffic and criminal law and strive to keep the peace. Each officer is provided a home-based squad
car so they can be called on for backup and to handle emergencies in
their area. Other divisions in
the Department include:
Fire Protection The Menomonie Fire Department provides protection for
the portion of the Town of Spring Brook west of Muddy Creek (generally
west of 790th Street) (see Fire Service/Emergency Services
map). As of 2005 27 full-time members, plus a Chief, staff
the Menomonie Fire Department. It
operates as three crews, each made of 9 members. In addition, twenty paid on-call volunteers
are available to the Department. The
initial response to fire calls from township areas includes two engines,
two tanker trucks, and a medical unit.
The department also has two brush trucks for grass and woods
fires. There are 7,300 gallons of water available
for initial response. Irrigation
wells are available for additional emergency water. The Menomonie Fire Department
has mutual aid agreements with fire departments in Colfax, Durand, Elk
Mound, Rock Creek and township fire departments in The Elk Mound Volunteer Fire Department provides protection
for the portion of the Town of Spring Brook east of Muddy Creek (generally
east of Emergency Medical Services Several groups provide emergency medical services to
the township. These include a
full-time ambulance services from Menomonie and The Menomonie ambulance service has 3 ambulances and
a full-time staff of 27 individuals.
The service is dispatched by calling 911.
The City and The Dunn County Medical Emergency 1st Responders
respond to medical emergencies including sickness, accidents, assaults,
etc on a 24 hour basis. These
trained and equipped responders come not only from Spring Brook Township
but also from the surrounding townships of Menomonie, Weston, Eau Galle, and Dunn. The
service is activated by calling 911 and the responders are contacted
by pagers. In addition to these services many of the deputies in
the Municipal Buildings The Town of Spring Brook has a building on Electrical
and Petroleum Products Transmission Electric Utilities The Town of Spring Brook has three suppliers of electrical
power; Dunn Energy Cooperative, Eau Claire Energy Cooperative and Xcel Energy. All providers
indicate they have the facilities to maintain adequate services as the
area grows. Petroleum Products Pipeline Williams Pipeline maintains an underground petroleum
products pipeline that runs east and west through the northern part
of the Town of Spring Brook Powerlines Xcel Energy maintains a 375 KVA electrical power line that
runs east and west through the northern part of the Town of Spring Brook. Dairyland Power maintains a 99 KVA electrical power line. Non-Transportation
Fuels
The Town of Spring Brook is served by a wide variety
of dealers who provide propane and fuel oil for heating. Some households use wood burning systems for
primary or supplementary heating. In
some cases wood pellets or corn are used as heating fuel. There is no natural gas supplier to the Town
of Spring Brook. Local and
Long Distance Telephone Providers, Internet, and DSL Diggers Hotline locates buried utility lines in the Township for the various utilities. Their telephone number is 1-800-242-8511 or 1-800-542-2289. West Wisconsin Telecom Cooperative and SBC Ameritech
provide local telephone lines in the Township.
Long distance service is available from AT & T, MCI, and
other communications companies. Cellular
phone service is available from a number of different companies. Cable television is available in a very limited area
of the Township. At the time
that this document is being written West Wisconsin Telcom
is installing equipment that will give their customers access to DSL
service in most areas except for the far western part of the township.
Health Care Facilities Town of Spring Brook
residents have ready access to health care in Menomonie and In Menomonie the Red Cedar Medical Center is the largest
of the facilities and provides both clinic and hospital care. Independent physicians and visiting specialists
from the Mayo Clinic provide extensive services through the clinic.
The It
has 485 employees including about 160 registered nurses and 30 licensed
practical/vocational nurses. † * Information Source: http://www.sacredhearthospital-ec.org/ † Information Source: http://www.hospital-data.com/hospitals/SACRED-HEART-HOSPITAL-EAU-CLAIRE.html Child Care Facilities A number of licensed childcare facilities are available
in the area. These range from
day care providers approved to offer care in their own homes to larger
group centers. These facilities
provide care ranging from infants to children age 12. Five licensed group centers for up to 20 children are
operating in the City of Information on current childcare facilities is available
from the Dunn County Human Services Day Care Coordinator. Elder Care Facilities *Information
Source: http://www.cvol.net/theanswer/PDFs-2003/Answer-Web_30.pdf Cemeteries (See Points of Interest map
for location) There
are nine public or private cemeteries in the Town of Spring Brook. 1. Spring Brook 2. Sand
Hill 3. 4. 5. 6. Spring
Brook Methodist 7. 8. Waneka 9. Sneen The
Town of Spring Brook maintains only the Schools Private and Religious schools There are numerous religious schools and some private
schools and academies in Menomonie, Charter Schools Charter schools in the area include Public Schools The Town of Spring Brook is primarily served by the
Elk Mound School District on the east side and the Menomonie School
District on the west side. See School Districts map in Appendix E for location
for the approximate district boundaries.
The school district offices should be contacted to determine
in which district a specific address is located. The For the 2003-2004 school term the Menomonie School District
operates elementary schools in Cedar Falls, Downsville, Knapp, Oaklawn, River Heights, and Wakanda,
with a total of about 1000 students.
The The township is part of the Chippewa Valley Technical
College District. There are campuses
in Menomonie, Other higher education degree programs are available
from the Future Needs All of the utility and community facilities inventoried
have been analyzed for future expansion of services. The analyses reveal that none of the utility
providers are at or near capacity and that none have plans to create
new or expanded facilities within the Town. |