B.C. Kowalski/City Pages
At a press conference Friday, April 7 announcing the lawsuit, Rib Mountain Town Chairman Al Opal said the county’s uniform addressing will hurt the 150+ businesses in Rib Mountain.
Rib Mountain will have to participate in a plan to make addresses in the county uniform, following a decision by a Marathon County Judge Thursday.
Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Greg Huber filed his decision in the case Thursday, siding with the county in ruling that Rib Mountain must comply with the uniform addressing plan.
The county is implementing a uniform addressing grid as it upgrades its address and 911 systems. The uniform grid would replace the patchwork of roads currently in place in the county, which can be confusing for public safety and delivery personnel. The county only has authority to force towns follow the change, because they are unincorporated; villages and cities must do so voluntarily.
Rib Mountain sued the county to block implementation in its town, saying the word “rural” in the statute doesn’t apply to Rib Mountain because much of it is urban. It asked the court to block the implementation of uniform addressing on its urban streets.
Huber, in his decision, says that the town’s interpretation of “rural” is flawed and that the statute also includes towns in general, which means it applies to Rib Mountain.
