With the help of ARPA funds (America Rescue Plan Act), we were able to extend broadband to all areas of the county with the exception of an area on the eastern side that is mostly forests. 

We have completed and moved into the new $33 million highway building. At 200,000 square feet it is three times the size of the aging building it replaced.  Its renewable energy features include being heated and cooled by geothermal energy. A 100- kilowatt solar array on the roof provides electricity. It has electrical vehicle recharging stations for county vehicles. (The county owns a few electric vehicles now, but this is planning for the future.) The new building also features a commercial kitchen for preparing Meals on Wheels which provides efficiency and saves the county rent.  Over 500 volunteers delivered 100,256 meals in 2023, up from 96,007 in 2002.  The county has a goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 and this is a step in that direction.  

The Sheriff’s Department, judges, and social workers are working together on a new jail diversion program to replace arrests with outreach. 

We have a newly donated 230-acre recreation area with a ground water-fed lake -- the Red Flint Recreation Area-- thanks to a generous donation from Red Flint and Gravel LCC and a local family. The area is just southwest of the city of Eau Claire. Gravel mined here was sent all over the world to be used in water filtration systems, however, when the excavation hit the ground water table, the gravel pit became a lake. It already has fish, which come and go from the nearby Chippewa River. The property is bordered by the Chippewa River Bike Trail. Modest development is planned.   

Photo Courtesy of Volume One