By MARK JAEGER
Ozaukee Press staff
Posted 7-23-08

A little give-and-take may be all that is needed to settle the differences between Comprehensive Contracted Services and the Village of Fredonia.

The village has been pushing the company, located at 427 Park Ave. just west of Firemen’s Park, to comply with its paving requirements, but company officials are concerned the cost will be wasted if long-promised utility work takes place.

The paving of the company’s driveway and parking lot within 12 months was a condition the village placed on the company when it sought approval for a 2,800-square-foot addition last year.

Bob Rathsack, a former village president and retired owner of CCS, said the company is wary of spending too much money on paving.

“It seems foolish to put in new blacktop in an area which the village says will be dug up in the next few years for rerouting utility lines,” Rathsack told the Plan Commission last week.

Although the proposed sewer and water work was discussed when the company proposed the addition last year, Rathsack said, the village has no utility easement on the company’s property.

“I don’t feel I should have to hard-surface until I know the village’s plans. I don’t expect this is something the village will be putting in in the near future,” he said.

Rathsack said compromise and sensitivity might be needed, noting he has never complained when overflow parking from park users block access to his property.

“We recently received recognition (from the Fredonia Lions Club) for all that we have done for the community, and now it feels we are being put down as undesirables,” he said.

Rathsack said village officials often fail to appreciate the value of retaining local businesses.

With 35 employees, he said, “we are bringing a lot of wages into Fredonia and that money is being spent in Fredonia.”

A slumping economy has cut into the company’s contracts, making it difficult to pick up the cost of paving, Rathsack said.

“Putting in a paved parking area now would stretch us a little thin. I am not saying I don’t want to do it, but the timing is not good,” he said.

Rathsack said the company is in the process of scrapping two of three large storage trailers from the property, another issue that has concerned village officials.

Village President Joe Short said if the company provides a plan showing what areas will be paved, the village will come up with a tentative timetable for the pending sewer work.

“Right now it is not on the top of our list,” Short said.