Less than an hour after Worcester electors voted 9-0 to authorize selling public Mussel Lake access land, the regular board meeting’s public comment session exploded. Residents confronted Chairman Jim Michler over road crew mismanagement, scrap metal giveaways, and safety concerns he dismissed as lower priority than a salt shed.
Quick Answer: The July 21 Worcester Town Board meeting’s public comment period featured heated exchanges between residents and Chairman Jim Michler. A resident identified as Mr. Long told Michler “you have no clue” about his road crew and “do your job or stay out of here.” Anthony Sleck criticized Michler for silencing a board member and cutting off a resident mid-question. An East Solberg Road resident said Michler sent her on a “wild goose chase” between three government bodies over speed limit and safety concerns.
TLDR: Worcester’s public comment period devolved into a confrontation between residents and Chairman Michler over road crew accountability, a culvert scrap metal giveaway worth $500-700, and East Solberg Road safety. Michler dismissed safety concerns as lower priority than his salt shed and L-RUP grant projects. The full 96-minute meeting transcript (10,568 words) is available in our research files.
‘You Have No Clue’: Mr. Long’s Confrontation
The most explosive moment came from a resident identified in the meeting as Mr. Long, who used his three minutes of public comment to directly attack Chairman Michler’s oversight of the road crew.
“You have no business being there because you don’t know what’s going on. You have no clue,” Long said, citing a specific incident where the road crew graded Sheep Ranch Road by itself less than eight weeks prior. “That’s a total waste of time and money.”
Long referenced the previous meeting where Michler reportedly didn’t know what was happening on South Loop Road. He also pointed to the road crew supervisor himself saying the crew “can’t even blade it right” — suggesting the problem isn’t just execution but management awareness.
“Do your job or stay out of here,” Long concluded, after accusing Michler of being a “comedian” rather than taking responsibility for his crew’s work.
Sleck: ‘Stop Shutting People Down’
Anthony Sleck, who has been a consistent critic of Worcester town governance, used his public comment time to raise multiple issues — including one that crossed into board dynamics.
First, Sleck returned to the culvert issue raised earlier in the meeting: a 70-foot culvert replaced by the county on Springs Drive, crushed flat as scrap metal, and hauled away. At roughly $170/ton for scrap metal, Sleck estimated the material was worth $500-700.
“Let’s try to keep the money in our township instead of giving it away,” Sleck said, noting the town let the county take the material without compensation.
Then Sleck turned to Michler’s conduct during the meeting itself. He criticized the chairman for shutting down a board member — Jim, the road supervisor — “right in front of us” during an earlier discussion. He also called out Michler for looking at his watch to cut off public comment while a woman was still asking about East Solberg Road safety.
“You look at your watch. That’s a real good thing to shut me down when this lady’s asking for a question,” Sleck said. He noted the three-minute time limit was being enforced selectively: “Three minutes for everybody, that’s been used up here.”
East Solberg Road: The Wild Goose Chase
Before Sleck and Long spoke, a resident raised concerns about East Solberg Road, where heavy gravel pit truck traffic has created safety issues. She requested a center line be painted on the road, the speed limit be reduced from 45 to 30 mph, and a “No Jake Brake” sign be posted.
The resident said she had already spoken with Evan Lund, who redirected her back to the town board. Michler then sent her to the sheriff’s department and the county. “You sent me on a wild goose chase,” she told the chairman.
When she pressed for action, Michler listed his priorities: the L-RUP grant, salt shed, crack sealing, and the Mussel Lake boat landing. “Everything you saw in the meeting here is actually pretty high on my priority list,” Michler said, implying her concerns were not.
The resident pushed back: “So you’re saying your salt shed is more important than the folks that walk and run and bike on that road?” She argued the issue was about protecting both pedestrians and drivers: “If they hit somebody, tragically, they would never recover.”
Michler’s response — “I’m working on it” — rang hollow to the residents present, especially given the pattern of inaction documented in previous meetings.
The Crack Sealing Fiasco
Earlier in the meeting, before public comment, the board discussed last year’s crack sealing contractor failure — a separate but related road maintenance issue.
The contractor hired last year did what the board called an “unacceptable job”: missing cracks by inches, failing to route at all in some sections, and just smearing sealant over the surface. The warranty fix was equally inadequate — thin white “flex patch” bumps applied over the failed work.
The road supervisor noted that the contractor may have only put down 2,500 pounds of material total, when a proper job on the town’s roads would require 10,000 pounds. The town paid roughly $14,000 for the work.
The board discussed buying their own crack sealing equipment — a router ($7,000-10,000 used), a Billy Goat blower ($2,100 new), a line driver ($8,000-9,000 used), and renting a 200-gallon melter ($350/day). Total investment would be under $20,000, and the town could control timing and quality. The discussion was tabled to the budget meeting.
What Else Happened
The meeting also covered several other items of note:
- Red Pine subdivision lots sold for $275,361 — $10,000 above asking price and $50,000 above last year’s estimate. After commissions and survey costs (~$25,000), the town cleared over $250,000. Michler said “that’s hopefully the last time it’ll be on their agenda.”
- L-RUP grant of $25,886.45 received for local road improvements. The board is considering switching the project from Cottage Grove Lane to East Solberg Road for a 1.5-inch overlay to protect against gravel pit truck traffic. Tabled to the budget meeting.
- ARPA road construction starts August 3, with a pre-construction meeting July 28. Primary work on Pine Lane and Little Chicago Road.
- Budget meeting scheduled for July 29 at 11 AM — the board needs two budget meetings before the August regular meeting to approve the budget.
- 19 of 56.5 miles of blacktop in the town are in mediocre to poor condition, according to the board’s assessment.
The Pattern Continues
The July 21 meeting reinforces what we’ve documented for over a year: a town where the chairman dismisses resident concerns, where the road crew operates without effective oversight, and where public comment is treated as a formality to be managed rather than a right to be respected.
When a resident says “you sent me on a wild goose chase” and the chairman’s response is to list his own priorities, that’s not governance. When another resident says “do your job or stay out of here” and the chairman moves to adjourn, that’s not accountability.
Worcester has had five clerk resignations in five years. The open records crisis we documented in May continues. And now the road crew — the most visible daily service the town provides — is being called out by its own supervisor as unable to do the work right.
See also: Worcester electors vote 9-0 to sell public Mussel Lake access
See also: The Anthony Sleck case and Worcester’s open records crisis
See also: 13 Price County towns ignored our public records requests
See also: Worcester gravel pit approved 4-1