The Northwest Cleansweep program was established in 1995 to demonstrate a safe, regional solution for the collection and disposal of hazardous wastes in our northwest Wisconsin region. The program is available free to households and farmers and also provided to agricultural-related businesses and very small quantity generator businesses at reasonable rates. Very small quantity generator (VSQG’s) businesses are those that generate less than 225 pounds of hazardous waste per month or less than 2205 pounds on an annual basis. Agricultural-related businesses include cranberry operations, tree and vegetable farms and other such enterprises. They receive a 50% reduction in disposal costs.

Please visit the  2010 NW Cleansweep Page for a schedule and more information.

Upcoming Event Information

2010 Bayfield County Cleansweep Flyer

2010 Washburn County Cleansweep Flyer

Chairman Doug Finn welcomed the Board of Director’s and special guests John G and Darryl Zastrow with the WI DNR and Kimberly Green Strand, new Enterprise Business Manager with the Lac Courte Oreilles.

Minutes of the May 26, 2010 Meeting, July 2010 Vouchers, Resolution #10-04 and Contracts were all approved by the Board.  Executive Director Myron Schuster presented the Executive Director’s Report and the 2^nd Quarter Financial Report. A County Issues Roundtable discussion was also held.

Darrell Zastrow, Deputy Administrator of the Division of Forestry for the WI DNR presented at the meeting regarding the State Tree Nursery Program, particularly the nursery located in Hayward (Sawyer County). For more information please contact Darrell at 608-266-0290 or darrell.zastrow@wisconsin.gov.

Section Report updates from Planning & Housing (Sheldon Johnson), Environmental – Great Lakes Restorative Initiative (GLRI) Grant – J. Laumann, Financial (John Stroschine) and Business Development/Enterprise Centers (Rick Roeser) were presented to the Board.

The meeting adjourned around 11:00 a.m.  to the NWREDF (Northwest Wisconsin Regional Economic Development Fund) Governing Board Annual Meeting. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at the NWRPC Office in Spooner.

Myron Schuster, Executive Director of NWRPC handed out presentation of service awards to Michael Bobin (Washburn County), Ed Peterson (Burnett County) and John Blahnik (Bayfield County) for their time served on the Executive Committee for NWRPC. He also presented special recognition awards to Rene Daniels and Matt Rudig, representatives for Congressman Dave Obey who is retiring. Minutes of the Semi-Annual Meeting, June 2010 Vouchers, Resolution #10-02 Approving CEDS Annual Report and #10-03 Supporting Continued Seedling Production at the Hayward DNR Tree Nursery, 2009 Audit Report and the 2011 Membership Levy were all approved by the full commission members in attendance.

An election of NWRPC Officers was held and the results were as follows:

Chairman: Doug Finn (Douglas County)
Vice Chairman: Randy Tatur (Rusk County)
Secretary: Hal Helwig (Sawyer County)

Tom Beekman (WI Department of Transportation), John Gozdzialski (WI Department of Natural Resources), Craig Thompson (Transportation Development Association) and Mark O’Connell (WI Counties Association) were present and spoke briefly about their State Organizations.

Guest Speakers for the day were Dan Kuiper of Wadal Plastics located in our Medford Enterprise Center and Eric Peterson of Alion Science and Technology located in our Grantsburg Enterprise Center. Both gentleman spoke on how NWRPC and our Enterprise Center Network has helped them grow, expand and benefit their small companies.

Federal and State representatives updated the group on happenings at the State and Federal levels. Representatives included Karen Graff – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, Marjorie Bunce – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, Matt Rudig and Rene Daniels– Congressman Dave Obey, Bryce Luchterhand – Governor Doyle’s Northern Office Director and Nick Milroy – 73^rd Assembly District.

Myron Schuster, Executive Director presented a National Association of Development Organization (NADO) Congressional Partnership Award to Senator Kohl for his support of Economic Development in rural Wisconsin. Marjorie Bunce, representative for Senator Kohl accepted the award on his behalf.

The meeting adjourned at noon with a luncheon that followed. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be a regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at the NWRPC office in Spooner.

The Duluth-Superior Metropolitan Interstate Council (MIC) is seeking comments on the short, mid, and long-range plans for improvements to the area’s transportation system.  “Directions 2035” is a multi-modal transportation plan that addresses issues involving roadway, rail, water, air, transit, bicycle and pedestrian users.  The draft plan can be reviewed at www.dsmic.org/lrtp, and comments or questions can be sent to Robert Herling (rherling@ardc.org) or by phone at 529-7573.

Chairman Doug Finn welcomed the Board of Director’s and special guest Mary Roets with Clifton Gunderson, LLC.  Jim Crandall, newly appointed Bayfield County representative was also in attendance.

Minutes of the April 28, 2010 Meeting, May 2010 Vouchers, and Contracts were all approved by the Board.  Executive Director Myron Schuster presented the Executive Director’s Report. A County Issues Roundtable discussion was also held.

Mary Roets with Clifton Gunderson, LLC was at the meeting to present the 2009 NWRPC Draft Audit to the Board. It was a clean audit with no significant findings. The Board approved the draft audit and recommended it be approved by the full commission at its annual meeting in June.

Section Report updates from Planning, Housing & Environmental (Sheldon Johnson), Financial (John Stroschine), Business Development/Enterprise Centers (Rick Roeser) and ITBEC (Dave Dumke) were presented to the Board.

The meeting adjourned around 11:00 a.m. The next meeting of the NWRPC Executive Committee, will be the Annual Meeting on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. at Flat Creek Inn & Suites in Hayward, WI.