July 1, 2026
By Tim Hundt
VIROQUA Wis. – The Viroqua City Council advanced landfill remediation plans and navigated a looming deadline for an overlooked street project during its June 30 meeting while enlisting the help of recently departed City Administrator Nate Torres to guide the upcoming budget process.
The council approved a formal loan resolution to secure $2.51 million from the United States Department of Agriculture to pay for an active methane extraction system at the old city dump. City officials have been scrambling to address the leaking landfill gas since the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued a notice of noncompliance last year.
City Clerk and Treasurer Lori Polhamus explained that the loan resolution is a critical procedural step to lock in the federal funding before major remediation construction begins.
To keep the landfill project moving the council also approved a detailed engineering services agreement with TRC Companies. The firm will finalize the design and oversee the installation of the active gas extraction system which will use underground pipes and large blowers to actively vacuum methane out of the ground safely venting or flaring it off into the atmosphere.
Mike Amstadt of TRC outlined the specific elements of the engineering contract to the council noting that the work includes drafting bid documents and providing construction quality assurance.
“We divided the project basically up into five parts,” said Amstadt. “We have the project manual which is basically the contract documents and the specifications for the contractors for what needs to be installed out there.”
The unexpected multi million dollar cost of the landfill cleanup forced the city to pause its comprehensive capital improvement plan last year. As the council attempted to restart the process and establish an interim purchasing plan for the next two years City Engineer Sarah Grainger alerted officials that a major road reconstruction project had been accidentally omitted from the draft planning documents.
Grainger explained that the city previously secured a $400,000 state grant from the Department of Transportation to rebuild West South Street but the funding will expire next summer if the project is not completed by the deadline.
“So Nate (Torres) and I had a miscommunication and West South Street is not on here which was the reason I was trying to get this in front of everybody in the first place,” said Grainger. “We have that $400,000 dollars from the DOT to do West South Street we were going to shrink the project so that we would get exactly that money and so I do not know what to do with that but we need to spend the money by next summer.”
Torres who officially left his city post on June 19 to become the Vernon County administrative coordinator attended the meeting to advise the council. He admitted the street project slipped through the cracks during the capital planning process.
“I will agree there was a bit of a miscommunication as we put this together,” said Torres. “Sarah and I got our wires crossed on that so again I had not put that on there.”
Torres presented the council with options to borrow approximately $1 million to fund the overlooked street repairs alongside other scheduled infrastructure upgrades in 2027. He suggested the city could take out a short-term loan from a local bank before eventually going to the broader securities market for a larger municipal bond issuance.
“In speaking with Sean (Lenz- City financial advisor with Ehlers and Assoc.) that million dollar number we could do one of two things with it. One we could try to go to local banks and just do see if there is an appetite for a 10 or 20 year note,” said Torres. “We could do interim financing on it and use interim financing just to pay for those projects in 2027 using an interim financing note.”
Despite his recent departure for the county job Torres offered to stay on the city payroll as an hourly employee to help the council finish the capital improvement plan and draft the 2027 operating budget. He proposed a deeply discounted wage to ensure a smooth municipal transition before a new city administrator is hired.
“I just pitched Krista and Lori because I know that budgets are tight that I said just pay me $12 an hour for the time that I am doing and it should be around maybe 20 hours of work,” said Torres.
The council also made significant headway on the massive Hanson Farm development located on the north side of the city. Officials unanimously approved early occupancy agreements for developers Vikemyr Wangen Properties and Kickapoo Homes LLC.
Consultant Andy Kurtz from Vierbicher that was hired to manage the development process explained that the agreements allow the builders to begin site work before the final subdivision plat is officially recorded preventing costly construction delays.
“What has been done in the past within the city is what is called an early occupancy agreement,” said Kurtz. “Essentially what it allows for is the developer to essentially begin work on the parcels that are being designated for their use and ultimately transfer under the development agreement.”
Additionally the council reviewed a formal development agreement with local builder Joe Gunderson to construct a multi-family housing complex within the Hanson Farm site. Kurtz detailed the scope of the proposed project which is slated to be built on two and a half acres purchased from the Viroqua Development Association for $35,000 an acre.
“Main elements of this obviously is what is being built two six unit buildings two eight unit buildings one six unit town home one five unit town home totaling 39 residential units,” said Kurtz.
To round out the development progress the council appointed Grainger and Alderperson Cyndy Hubbard to select the final road names for the Hanson Farm subdivision to ensure the project stays on its strict recording schedule. The city conducted a survey of city residents and collected suggestions for naming the streets in the new development. Results of that survey are below:
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