Category: General

Letter from the Mayor

March 11, 2025

This letter is to inform the citizens about the great work that was done by Officer Brad Shearer. The City was in significant need of 1 to 2 patrol cars. Brad put in a lot of time and effort investigating lease programs, making sure it would be a good fit for the City. Instead of 1 to 2 patrol cars, we will be getting 4 cars for the price of purchasing 1. This is a four-year lease with options to renew or purchase the cars at the end of the lease. This program will help the City solve its very old fleet issue, while saving the City money. Thank you for your hard work and dedication to the growth and financial responsibility of the City of Oconto, Officer Shearer!

Regards,

Cliff Martin

Mayor City of Oconto

15 Ton Weight restrictions will go into effect on all City of Oconto streets effective March 7th, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. and remain in effect until further notice.

School buses, emergency vehicles, milk/seed potato/livestock haulers, perishable food haulers, solid waste haulers collecting residential or commercial waste, and septage hauling will be EXEMPT from the road restrictions.

Fuel/gas haulers will be allowed to transport ½ of their normal legal loads. However, all carriers are encouraged to suspend operations and contact Oconto City Hall if visible road damage is encountered at 920-834-7725.

This information will be forwarded to the Wisconsin State Patrol and the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department.

02/26/2025

This is a Notice of Closed Bid Opportunity for Cut Lumber located at Holtwood Campground in the City of Oconto

The City of Oconto is accepting sealed bids for the purchase of cut lumber located at Holtwood Campground. High bid will be responsible for the removal of all lumber which also includes the loading.

• Submission Deadline & Bid Opening Date: All sealed bids must be received by 12:00 pm on March 14^th, 2025. Bids will be publicly opened on March 14^th, 2025, at 12:00 pm, at Oconto City Hall, Front Office, 1210 Main St, Oconto WI 54153.

Sealed bids should be clearly marked with “Closed Bid – Campground Lumber”. The City of Oconto will also accept offers for the exchange of Firewood delivered to the Holtwood Campground.

Bids can be submitted to:
City of Oconto

Attn: Brittney Burruel
1210 Main Street

Oconto, WI 54153

For additional details or to arrange an inspection of the lumber, please contact Jeremy Wusterbarth at 920-834-7725 or jeremy@cityofocontowi.gov.

The City of Oconto reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to waive any informalities in the bidding process.

Notice of Spring Primary and Sample Ballots

February 18, 2025

Office of the Oconto County Clerk

To the voters of Oconto County:

Notice is hereby given of a spring primary election to be held in Oconto County on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, at which the officers named below shall be chosen.  The names of the candidates for each office, whose nominations have been certified to or filed in this office, are given under the title of the office, each in its proper column, together with the questions submitted to a vote, for a referendum, if any, in the sample ballot below.

Information to Voters

Upon entering the polling place and before being permitted to vote, a voter shall:

• state their name and address
• show an acceptable form of photo identification*
• sign the poll book**

*If a voter does not have acceptable photo identification, the voter may obtain a free photo ID for voting from the Division of Motor Vehicles. 

**If the voter is unable to sign the poll book due to disability, a poll worker may write the word “exempt.”

If a voter is not registered to vote, they may register to vote at the polling place serving their residence if the voter provides proof of residence. 

Where ballots are distributed to voters, the initials of two inspectors must appear on the ballot.

Upon being permitted to vote, the voter shall enter a voting booth or go to a machine and cast their ballot. The vote should not be cast in any manner other than specified here.  Sample ballots or other materials to assist the voter in marking their ballot may be taken into the booth and copied.  The sample ballot shall not be shown to anyone so as to reveal how the ballot is marked.

A voter who is a parent or guardian may be accompanied by the voter’s minor child or minor ward. 

An election official may inform the voter of the proper manner for casting a vote but the official may not advise or indicate a particular voting choice.

Assistance for Voting

A voter may select an individual to assist in casting their vote if the voter declares to the presiding official that they are unable to read, have difficulty reading, writing, or understanding English, or that due to disability are unable to cast their ballot.  The selected individual rendering assistance may not be the voter’s employer or an agent of that employer or an officer or agent of a labor organization which represents the voter.

Where Paper Ballots are Used

The voter shall fill in the oval next to the name of the candidate of his or her choice for each office for which they intend to vote.  To vote for a person whose name does not appear on the ballot, the voter shall write in the name of the person of their choice in the space provided for a write-in vote.  On referendum questions, the voter shall fill in the oval next to “yes” if in favor of the question, or the voter shall fill in the oval next to “no” if opposed to the question.

Where Optical Scan Voting is Used

The voter shall fill in the oval next to the name of the candidate of their choice for each office for which he or she intends to vote.  To vote for a person whose name does not appear on the ballot, the voter shall write in the name of the person of their choice in the space provided for a write-in vote and fill in the oval next to the write-in line.  On referendum questions, the voter shall fill in the oval next to “yes” if in favor of the question, or the voter shall fill in the oval next to “no” if opposed to the question.

When using an electronic ballot marking device (“Automark,” “ExpressVote,” Clear Access or “ImageCast Evolution-ICE”) to mark an optical scan ballot, the voter shall touch the screen or use the tactile pad to select the name of the candidate of their choice for each office for which they intend to vote.  To vote for a person whose name does not appear on the ballot, the voter shall type in the name of the person of their choice in the space provided for a write-in vote.  On referendum questions, the voter shall touch the screen or use the tactile pad to select “yes” if in favor of the question, or the voter shall touch the screen or use the tactile pad to select “no” if opposed to the question.

Where Touch Screen Voting is Used

The voter shall touch the screen or use the tactile pad to select the name of the candidate of their choice for each office for which they intend to vote.  To vote for a person whose name does not appear on the ballot, the voter shall type in the name of the person of their choice in the space provided for a write-in vote.  On referendum questions, the voter shall touch the screen at “yes” if in favor of the question, or the voter shall touch the screen at “no” if opposed to the question.

Spoiled Ballots

If a voter spoils a paper or optical scan ballot, they shall return it to an election official who shall issue another ballot in its place, but not more than three ballots shall be issued to any one voter.  If the ballot has not been initialed by two inspectors or is defective in any other way, the voter shall return it to the election official, who shall issue a proper ballot in its place. 

The voter may spoil a touch screen ballot at the voting station before the ballot is cast.

After Voting the Ballot

After an official paper ballot is marked, it shall be folded so the inside marks do not show, but so the printed endorsements and inspectors’ initials on the outside do show.  The voter shall deposit the voted ballot in the ballot box or deliver the ballot to an inspector for deposit and shall leave the polling place promptly.

After an official optical scan ballot is marked, it may be inserted in the security sleeve, so the marks do not show.  The voter shall insert the ballot in the voting device and discard the sleeve or deliver the ballot to an inspector for deposit.  If a central count system is used, the voter shall insert the ballot in the ballot box and discard the sleeve or deliver the ballot to an inspector for deposit.  The voter shall leave the polling place promptly.

After an official touch screen ballot is cast, the voter shall leave the polling place promptly.

The following is a list of contests, ballot candidates, and a sample of the official ballot published in accordance with state statute.  Each polling location will have samples of official ballots specific to that location posted.  Please visit https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/ for more information.

Done in the City of Oconto on January 16, 2025

Kim Pytleski, Oconto County Clerk

301 Washington Street, Oconto, Wisconsin 54153

920-834-6800

All Oconto County Voters will vote for:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction

State Superintendent

Vote for 1

Jeff Wright

Brittany Kinser

Jill Underly

Town of Mountain Voters will vote for:

Town Board Chairperson

Vote for 1

Lindor Skip Maletzke

Brenda Carey-Mielke

Tom Huff

Notice of Location and Hours of Polling Place

At the election to be held on February 18, 2025, in the County of Oconto, the following polling place locations will be used for the wards indicated below.  If you have questions concerning your polling place, contact the municipal clerk. 

City of Oconto W1-7 Brittney Burruel (920) 834-7711 1210 Main Street, Oconto, WI 54153

All polling places will open at 7:00 A.M. and will close at 8:00 P.M.

All polling places are accessible to elderly and voters with disabilities.

Notice of Meeting of the Local Board of Canvassers

At the close of voting on Election Day, pursuant to the provisions of Wis. Stat. § 19.84, the Election Inspectors at each polling place will convene as the Local Canvassing Board for the purpose of conducting the local canvass pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 7.51.  This meeting will be open to the public pursuant to Wis. Stat. §§ 19.81-89.

Notice of Meeting of the Local and Municipal Board of Canvassers (MBOC)

At the close of voting on Election Day, pursuant to the provisions of Wis. Stat. § 19.84, the Election Inspectors will convene as a joint meeting of the Local Board of Canvassers and the MBOC for the purpose of conducting the local and municipal canvasses pursuant to Wis. Stat. §§7.51 and 7.53(1). This meeting will be open to the public pursuant to Wis. Stat. §§ 19.81-89.

Notice of Meeting of MBOC to Process Rehabilitated Provisional Ballots

If provisional ballots have been issued and are subsequently cured by the voter before 4:00 p.m. on the Friday after the election, the MBOC must meet no later than the following Monday at 9:00 a.m. to process the cured provisional ballots.  This is a public meeting and requires applicable notice.

Letter from the Mayor

January 20, 2025

Please see the statement below from Utility Manager Matt Beekman regarding the work being done at the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

 This is Matt Beekman, the Utility Manager for the City, the WWTP upgrade consists of a new Headworks Building with all new mechanicals (pumps, piping, controls etc.), a new grit removal system, and a new septic receiving station.  Included in the project is bringing the existing building into compliance for safety and HVAC issues.  This will consist of removal of the existing pumps and grit removal system as well as the “Tee Cup”.  The original contract bid was $6,111,566.45 and the project was then value engineered to remove several items that brought the cost down to $5,625,496.70.  The project is funded by a bond issued to the Utility and additional funds for the project coming from the PPE Replacement Fund.  The project is totally funded by Utility monies.  Robert E. Lee (REL) was the Utility’s design engineer on this project at a cost of $271,815.42 and REL is also the construction oversight engineer with an approved contractual amount of $244,900.00.  If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me, my cell phone number is 920-373-3699 or through my work email at waterdept@cityofocontowi.gov.

In 2025, the Utility approved a routine simple rate increase of 4%. For the average family of four home, this would be an estimated increase of around $9.00 on your quarterly utility bill.

Regards,

Cliff Martin

Mayor City of Oconto

mayor@cityofocontowi.gov