Committee On County Board Size Meeting Recap

I attended the meeting last night in the basement of the court house. It started with an introduction of the members. Kathy Propp from the League of Women Voters absence was excused.

County Board Chair Abrecht announced that he had forgotten to notice the election of chair of the committee, therefore he will act as chair until the next meeting.

There were short statements by members of the board, followed by statements from the members of the community present.

Over view:

- Terry Footit brought forward a plan he had for a 27 member board than committee restructure as a starting point.

- I urged the committee to notice all of the board members when meetings were and to do whatever it could to get the community involved.

- Supv. Claud Thompson urged a 19 member board. He made some good points about the increased competitiveness may make the profile of members larger, therefore providing better representation because people will know who their supervisor is.

- Vice Chair John Schaidler urged the board to stay the same size.

Some facts:

- The board can redraw districts, but not wards. This can only be done by the municipality. Any number would have to fit in the existing wards.

- There is a question in that if the number cannot provide similar representation for each district, it may force the cities to redraw their lines, even if it means that it will change their boundaries for alders.

Next actions:

- Municipal government representatives will be invited to the next meeting.

I'll have more details later if needed, I do not have my notes with me now.