Although some scheduled civic projects will move ahead, 2010 will be a year when officials — particularly school officials — will continue to grapple with tight budgets. That was the word from school and municipal officials in Bangor and West Salem asked recently to reflect on what’s ahead in 2010.

In addition, the West Salem School District’s search for a replacement for retiring School Superintendent Nancy Burns will take up much of the year.

“That (the search for Burns’ replacement) is task No. 1,” said School Board President Errol Kindschy. “We want to get the best of whoever applies and have that person in place by July 1 or the beginning of the school year.”

The district has announced the vacancy and applications for Burns’ position are coming in now (the deadline is January 8).

“After we receive all the applications, we’ll get help from someone from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards,” Kindschy said. “They’ll go through them and identify what they think are the top prospects, and then we’ll review them ourselves and decide whether we agree or not.”

Once the number of applicants has been winnowed down to the top five to seven (depending on what the board decides), the interview process will begin.

According to Kindschy, finding a new leader for the school district is one of two top priorities. The other is the budget process.

“The budget is probably going to be the hardest thing — unless the economy does a complete turnaround,” Kindschy said. “Especially since we’ve been told the state is in even worse trouble than we expected. We’ve just got to do the best job we can. Fortunately, we’ve already got a teachers’ agreement in place.”

Kindschy said he’s heard both sides from constituents, with some telling him the board should “tax to the max” and others advocating for lowering school taxes.

“The major problem is that we don’t know how much the state will cut,” he said. “Anyway, those two (picking a superintendent and the budget) are the major issues. If we get through those, I’ll be very happy.”

Bangor School District Superintendent Roger Foegen echoed Kindschy’s financial concerns.

“The big things in 2010 are going to be finances and the opportunity to deal with the old high school issue,” Foegen said. “They will dominate the year whatever the result of our upcoming referendum.”

Last week, the Bangor School Board voted to ask voters to continue to override state revenue caps for three more years to the tune of $350,000 per year and for approval to borrow money to finance the demolition of the old high school, preserving the gymnasium for use by the community.

After the death of Bangor Village President Robin Gjertsen in November, one of the first orders of business for the Bangor Village Board in 2010 will be to pick a new village president. The board also will be holding special monthly meetings to put together a comprehensive plan for the village. If all goes according to the schedule, that plan will be finalized next summer.

“I know I’d like to see some way we could bring more businesses into town,” said Greg Peterson, village president pro tem. “Right now we’ve got too many empty storefronts downtown.”

Public Works Director Steve Baker says his department is looking to upgrade Weldon Street this year. “That’s not for certain — we’d have to qualify for grants — but it’s pretty likely,” he said. The village is also likely to buy a plow truck.

“If the board agrees, we’ll also be doing line upgrades and maintenance work on the electrical system in the village, since the rural areas are pretty much taken care of now,” Baker said.

Street work also is on the agenda for West Salem in 2010. “We’re going to add bike and pedestrian lanes to West Avenue North,” said Village Administrator Teresa Schnitzler. “We need a way to get kids safely down to Riverview Park.”

In addition to the work on West Avenue, the engineering work for the downtown revitalization project will be done in 2010. “They won’t necessarily be banging metal together, but they will be getting things ready for the construction to be done in 2011,” said Village President Dennis Manthei.

Smaller projects scheduled for 2010 include a replacement for the Village Park gazebo roof. “That will be done by the Park and Recreation Department,” Manthei said. “They’re also doing a joint project (building a gazebo) with the Eagle Scouts at the lower park on Neshonoc Lake — that should be completed next spring.”

On Jan. 13 there will be a joint hearing with the Public Service Commission at the Village Hall concerning the application of West Salem’s water and sewer utilities to revise the public fire protection charge recovery method.

“This is something we started a year or two ago to get water bills charged more fairly,” Manthei said. “It will get the hydrant rental off of property taxes and onto the actual water bills. Right now, only property tax pays that stuff.”

Manthei also noted that the police department will be purchasing two tasers in 2010, and that the board recently voted to pay for the village’s inclusion in www.crimereports.com. “It’s kind of a neat software package that allows people to go online and see crime reports and locations in the village,” Manthei said. “It’s relatively cheap, about $500 a year, and the board said, ‘Let’s go ahead with it.’”