Ettrick board seeks public input on increasing community center access

The Ettrick village board and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District seem to agree that the original contract between the two governing bodies regarding use of the Ettrick Community Center isn’t being followed, but there is some debate on how to best remedy that issue.

All G-E-T facilities — including the Ettrick Community Center, which is attached to Ettrick Elementary School — have been rekeyed in recent years and since the COVID-19 pandemic, Ettrick village residents haven’t had the same access to the community center that they had before. That, Ettrick village board members say, isn’t what was agreed upon when community members donated close to $900,000 to help build the center when the school was renovated in the late 1990s. 

Ettrick Village President Marc Baures said he spoke with G-E-T Superintendent Michele Butler and she agreed that village residents should have more access. Her suggestion, Baures said, was that the village could issue key fobs to govern usage of the facility. 

“There’s no commitment by anybody, this is the opening conversation,” Baures said, adding he told Butler he would bring the suggestion to the board.

However, it was not well received by village board members or clerk Jane Jensen. Board members are hoping they can get public input to help find a solution. They voted to set a committee of the whole meeting for May 22 at 7 p.m.

There have always been some requirements in place regarding usage of the facility, however, village residents were issued metal keys that they could use to gain access when the space was not being used for school purposes or reserved by someone else. Currently, residents are able to use the space, but only for a specific period of time with a reservation. The fob that is issued can only be used during that time period. 

Board members were quick to point out that there weren’t any documented issues when access wasn’t restricted. 

“We want to make that facility as accessible to the public as we can,” Pete Filla, village trustee, said. “Obviously, there is something that could go wrong with that… but there were keys handed out for years and I don’t remember hearing of a documented issue. I think it’s important for people to have access to the building.”

Filla said he would like to get the facility back to an “open gym” environment, in which multiple people could use the facilities at the same time. “That was good because you had citizens interacting, you had youth interacting and I think we need to get back to more of that.” 

Filla also noted that the weather in Wisconsin is often problematic and that allowing more access to the facility would benefit the community.

“Do we want to get people involved in sports and stuff like that or do we want them to do things that are unproductive,” Filla said. 

Trustees Harold Olson and Dan Molstad agreed that having the village issue the fobs would be difficult for clerk Jane Jensen. Jensen said the building doesn’t belong to the village, therefore the municipality shouldn’t be responsible for providing access.

“The village doesn’t own it, the school owns it,” Jensen said. “In this agreement, the village doesn’t have anything to do with the administration of rentals. That is up to the school.” 

“That would be a nightmare for Jane,” Olson said.

Olson, who also serves as the village representative on the school board, said he wasn’t pleased with how the district re-keyed the building and restricted access without consulting the village. 

“What makes my butt ache is they never came to us at all,” Olson said. “I’m on the school board, they never came to me. They never came to the village of Ettrick and asked us ‘what do you think?’ They just went ahead did it, which is wrong.” 

“When they did that, they went against the spirit of the agreement that was in place,” Filla said. 

The board’s intent is to reestablish the access that village residents previously had, figuring out how to do so is the next step.

“It’s understood that it is going to be difficult either way, but we have to have a solution,” Baures said.

The board set the time of the committee meeting for 7 p.m. in hopes that more area residents will be able to attend to give input.