Meeting Feb 27

Looks like a full agenda for next Tuesday's meeting.

Here are some points to highlight:

*County Executive's Appointments:
EastWisconsin Counties Railroad Consortium - Supervisor Jef Hall
I'm excited about this appointment.

**Report On Countywide Phone System Upgrade - Patty Francour, Information Systems Department Director**
This project comes through the IS Committee that I am on

*Reducing the Size of theWinnebago County Board of Supervisors - Presentation by Chairman David Albrecht
I do not know what this presentation will be about, as last I heard the committee voted for 28 but did not make and organization reccomendations. Has Chair Albrecht come up with them himself?

RESOLUTION NO. 158-22007: Amend Section 24.12 of the Rules of theWinnebago County Board of Supervisors (Information Systems Committee)
Submitted by:
DAVID ALBRECHT, DIST. #11 COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR
Now, I don't get this. The IS Committee is supposed to be voting on this tonight, yet it is already submitted to the full county board by Chair Albrecht? Why take any action at the committee level? I stand behind my previous statements that now is not the time to lessen citizen involvement.

RESOLUTION NO. 166-22007: Name County Building at Sunnyview Complex the Paul W. Stevenson Building
Submitted by:
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN EDUCATION,
EXTENSION & AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE
PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE
FACILITIES & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
I think that it is great to name buildings after people who worked in goverment and championed causes. It give a sense of history and connection.


RESOLUTION NO. 168-22007: Create a position of Confidential Secretary (Paralegal) on the District Attorney’s Office Table of Organization
Submitted by:
PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
This will be an employee to help out with domestic violence related issues.

ORDINANCE NO. 170-22007: Amend Section 2.01 of the General Code of Winnebago County
Submitted by:
JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
This is the new map for 36 board members.

Busses at the Jail

Here is the text of an email I sent to Sheriff Brooks & County Executive Harris:

Sheriff Brooks,

This is an email to follow-up the phone message I left earlier. I would like to know why there is not a protected bench or any other markings out in front of the County Jail where buses pick riders.

I travel past there daily on my way to work. I often see people running through traffic to be picked by northbound buses. Today there was a woman holding a child right next to the road, with cars driving past a few feet away.

Has there been an incident at this location yet? Has there been an attempt to install a covered, protected bench? Is there a reason that this cannot happen?

Can there be warning signage installed indicating that pedestrians cross?

Can the buses be routed through the parking lot instead?

Thank you,

-jef-

Jef Hall
Winnebago County Supervisor, District 17
224A Scott Ave
Oshkosh, WI 54901
920.203.6883
jef@winnebago17.org
www.winnebago17.org

Removal of Citizen Member will be voted on at next IS Committee Meeting

As I discussed in a previous post, the IS Committee will be voting on removing the citizen member.

I am against this, I feel we should be doing what we can to have people more involved with County Governance, not less.

Just because our current citizen member does not come to meetings is not a reason to remove them. It is a reason the replace them

Here is the meeting notice.

Citizen Membership on County Committees

In our Informations Systems Committee meeting this month, we discussed the status of the committee's citizen member.

The comittee was set up to be 5 board members and one citizen member. However, in the time that I have been on the committee the citizen member has not been there for a single meeting.

In both of the last two meetings we had, we discussed what should happen to this position, re-appoint a new mamber, or eliminate the position.

There are good arguments on both side of the issue. With the (potentially) upcoming county board restructure, a newly appointed member may only sit for a few months and need to be replaced. Therefore by eliminating the position on the committee we would eliminate any confusion.

While I understand this point, I disagree. I believe we should be working to get the community more involved in government, not less.

At the reccomendation of the Committee Chair, the County Board Chair and the Corp Council, there will be a resulution upcoming to eliminate the position. I will vote against it.

If you are interested in an appointment to the Information Systems Committee as a citizen member, I would reccomend contacting the County Board Chair.

Lets keep up citizen involvement in government.

Update on Board Size

I received a question on where things sit now. Here is where it is as I currently understand it...

(For the record, I am still of the mind that 38 supervisors is a perfectly workable number. In fact, looking at it, there are many boards with fewer members that cost their counties a lot more.)

1 - CUT Lawsuit:
The first hearing is Thursday. This is the email I got from County Clerk Sue Ertmer:

Just a reminder that the hearing on the CUT petitions will be held this Thursday (February 8) at 2:00 p.m. in Judge Schmidt's courtroom in the Safety Building.

They are (still) pushing to get the referendum for 19 supervisors. Unless it all gets wrapped up in this hearing, it is unlikely that any action on this will be in time to make the ballot in April. Otherwise, there is not another election until the Feb 08 primaries.

2 - Maps:
The 36 member map was passed by the board and vetoed by County Exec Harris. Mr. Harris indicated that he did not believe we should approve a map while there was a court case pending.

I voted for the map, because I believe that if the board passed 36 members (which I voted against, see statement above) we need to make a map, so both elected members, prospective candidates and other interested parties can make plans.

Also, if, as we had been indicated, the map provided the lowest disparity in population - we should have that as the first and only criteria for approval above any political considerations.

Because the map was vetoed and that veto was not over-ridden, the map question went back to the judiciary committee. This is why they will be reviewing maps again next week. I hope we resolve this part of the issue at this month's board meeting.

3 - Board Re-organization Committee Recommendation:
A recommendation came from the committee to re-organize under a 28-member structure after the 2010 census. I have not seen a resolution before the full board for this as of yet.

If this is passed by the board, it would be independent of any other action. After the census, the board has the ability to give itself any size it feels necessary. If we end up at 19 or 36 after all these actions, we can re-organize our size every 10 years as we see fit.

As I have said all along, without a real plan - including an organizational structure - I will not support any number other than 38. Otherwise we are merely picking numbers out of a hat. That is no way to run a government.


If I have anything wrong in this, feel free to post a comment.

Judiciary and Parks Meetings

For Parks And Judiciary click on them for the full agenda.

Parks will be discussing the soccer fees - Judiciary will look at maps for supervisory districts.