Winnebago 17

Winnebago County Personal Function Review & 71 Things

2007-11-29T12:50:00.000-06:00

For anyone interested in what your county government does for you, I published the Winnebago County Personal Function Review documents on my County County Board Website: www.winnebago17.org.

Also, I put together a smaller overview of 71 Things Your County Does (why 71? I wanted to keep it to 4 pages). I did not include some obvious ones, such as roads.

If you want a larger read, the full 23 page program overview is here.

Update on Prisoners...

2007-11-10T19:24:00.000-06:00

State prisons may use county jails

Steven Elbow — 11/08/2007 11:31 am

As Dane County pulls its inmates back from Winnebago and Sauk counties, the state Department of Corrections is hoping to use the newly available space to ease its own overcrowding problems.

The state is currently working with those counties, as well as Bayfield and Juneau counties, to use available beds as part of its ongoing effort to house a growing prison population.

Dane County currently pays Sauk and Winnebago counties about $1 million a year each to house a total of about 120 inmates a day. But Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney plans to bring those inmates home early next year as measures to open up beds at the Dane County Jail go into place.

The stakes on both sides are high: The state Department of Corrections is operating with 5,000 inmates more than it has space for, and counties say they need the revenue that housing state inmates can provide.

The state is still dealing with the result of its decision to bring 5,000 prisoners who were being housed in other states back to Wisconsin. The last were brought home in May 2005.

The Department of Corrections already houses about 600 inmates in 15 county lockups, paying the counties $51.46 per inmate per day. The recently passed state budget allows for 1,242 county jail beds for state prisoners.

Winnebago County Sheriff Michael Brooks said profits from the deal should bring the county about $30 a day per inmate, but he and the state have yet to reach a solid agreement.

Brooks added, however, that the growth of his own jail population is likely to cut into the profits by taking away rentable beds.

Dane County to Remove Inmates From Winnebgo County Jails

2007-10-22T08:05:00.000-05:00

The OshNW has this story today:

County will no longer house Dane County inmates

By Jennifer K. Woldt
of The Northwestern

A canceled contract for housing out of county inmates will result in Winnebago County losing more than $1 million in annual revenue.

Winnebago County Sheriff Michael Brooks learned earlier this week that Dane County will not renew its contract with Winnebago County to house approximately 60 of their inmates at the Winnebago County Jail.

The contract called for Dane County inmates to be held at the Winnebago County facility at a rate of $51 per day, Brooks said, which brings in about $1.3 million in revenue to the county. Brooks said the removal of Dane County inmates will happen in a "phased out" manner.

At the last meeting, I discussed the possibility of this, in the context of this Dane County Press release:

Falk, Mahoney Agree: More Public Safety, Less Cost in 2008 Dane County Budget

Some of the new deputies will be used to staff the expanded use of the electronic monitoring program from the current 40 to 60 inmates to 200 inmates. “This was one of the recommendations included in the Institute for Law and Policy Planning (ILLP) audit by Alan Kalmanoff,” Falk said of the report which stressed modernizing some of the county’s policies to promote more public safety and cost efficiencies.

With the expansion in electronic monitoring and several other key proposals which hold inmates more accountable than does the Huber Center, Falk said the county will reduce its costs of shipping inmates to other counties from more than $2 million to $150,000.

This could make a big dent in the budget. And it shows that we need a comprehensive study of the jail needs.

I propose that it be conducted as a joint effort between the offices of the Sheriff and the County Executive.

We need to make sure there is more than one set of eyes looking at the numbers. It may well be that we need to expand jail space, but I want to know that we are looking at a comprehensive picture of the situation, both from a view of jail needs and the current political reality of WI budgeting.

Voting Machines Back in the Northwestern:

2007-08-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

County may be in market for voting machines

Winnebago County could be in the market for a second set of new voting machines, depending on what happens to a bill working its way through Congress that could add new requirements for what counties need for disabled voters to cast private ballots.

The bill, currently in the U.S. House of Representatives, would require counties to have equipment that would scan ballots and read back a voter’s choices, or allow paper ballots to be marked through automatic marking equipment.

That provision would make all of the county’s voting machines obsolete, including Diebold Election Systems touch screen machines purchased in 2006, said Winnebago County Clerk Sue Ertmer.

Read it all here.

Some Goings-on In the Judiciary Committee...

2007-06-22T16:35:00.000-05:00

Here are the full minutes, below are the parts that I am concerned with:

4. Domestic Abuse Position for District Attorney
District Attorney Christian Gossett advised that his office only has one Domestic Abuse Investigator at this time due to budget restraints. Currently, the District Attorney’s Office contracts with local police agencies to have an officer work as their Domestic Abuse Investigator. By doing this, they must follow that officer’s union contract with their respective police agency. The contract for the current Domestic Abuse position will expire at the end of June 2007.

They are currently in the process of looking at filling this position with someone from within their office, possibly using retired officers, rather than contracting the position. By doing so, they would not have to follow a union contract and they would gain five more hours a week, and a full four more weeks a year of time from the person, along a savings of about $17,000. He believes that they will have a better chance of getting the 2nd Domestic Abuse Investigator position filled in 2008.

Now, I would hope that DA Gossett would be more concerned with getting the correct person in this position than subverting Union contracts...

I support a second Domestic Violence Investigator. The fact that it was left out of the budget was the reason I voted against the budget. However, if DA Gossett is going to use this position and the needs of battered and threatened women in Winnebago County as an attack on organized labor, I would encourage you to talk to him about it. I will be.

6. Accept Grant from Wal-Mart – Sheriff’s Office
Captain Verwiel advised that they have received a grant for $1,000 from Wal-Mart. This grant money will be used to cover the cost of purchasing Canon digital photography cameras that will work with their preexisting equipment. These cameras are good forensic-type cameras, as they are the only cameras available that have a viewfinder that can be moved around to change positions, which will help greatly at autopsies and traffic accidents. The digital photos can then also be emailed to the District Attorney’s Office. One camera will be used in the jail and two cameras will be used by the Detective Division.

A motion to approve acceptance of the $1,000 grant from Wal-Mart was made by Donald Griesbach, seconded by Tom Ellis. Motion carried 3-1. Bill Wingren opposed due to some of Wal-Mart’s practices.

Bill Wingren did the right thing. Wal-Mart owes Winnebago County, the State of WI and taxpayers nationwide much more than this $1000 can even begin to repay. I will have a subsequent post detailing the case for rejecting this grant.

After Wal-Mart stops using Badger care to insure its emplyees, tax loopholes to not pay income tax in WI and all the other shady ways they get out of thier responsibilities to society, then maybe we can accept the $1000.

I'd rather take it out of the budget than accept their money. The Sheriff can have his camera if it is needed in the budget.

Meeting on Tax Loopholes Monday...

2007-06-16T11:35:00.001-05:00

Press release from the Institute for Wisconsin's Future:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 15, 2007
CONTACT: Joe Fahey 414-731-4789

County Forum On Closing Tax Loophole
To Prevent tax increases for homeowners and businesses

Leaders from city and county government, community organizations and labor unions leaders from Winnebago County are encouraging voters to meet their state legislators and urge them to close a new corporate tax loophole that causes higher property taxes for homeowners and small businesses. The meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 18 at 7:00pm at the Coughlin Center in Oshkosh.

This loophole was opened by a recent court ruling. A New Jersey-based paper company argued that a 1953 law that exempted sewage treatment facilities from property tax should exempt them also (because they use re-cycled cardboard in their manufacturing process). A state court allowed this company, Newark Paper, to stop paying taxes on its paper mill property in Milwaukee County. This court decision turned a small and specific tax exemption into a giant tax loophole. Currently, hundreds of manufacturers throughout Wisconsin use recycled materials and dozens of companies have applied for this new tax loophole.

Any property tax decrease received by a corporation results in a property tax increase for everyone else owning property in the same city or county. This property tax break is a windfall for corporations who will continue operating as before, benefiting from the same fire and police protection, the same road repairs, snow removal and other services vital to their businesses. But these normal costs of doing business will no longer be borne by that business. Instead, the costs for the public services used by the corporation will be paid through increased property taxes by other businesses and all homeowners.

A group of Democratic and Republican legislators have sponsored a bill to close this new loophole and protect families and businesses from property tax increases. This bill – Senate Bill 122 – was introduced in April. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce opposes the bill and Assembly leaders in the state legislature have delayed it.

The June 18 meeting is open to the public and is an opportunity for the public to discuss the issue with their elected state legislators and ask them to close this loophole immediately.
###
Institute for Wisconsin’s Future Press Release

Waukesha County Cuts Board, Increases Budget...

2007-05-16T07:07:00.000-05:00

From this story in the MJS:

Citing the uncertainty of Waukesha County Board downsizing, supervisors endorsed a plan Tuesday to freeze board salaries for two years while raising the chairman's pay about $3,000 a year.

As the only county supervisor who works full time, the chairman is elected every two years by the board to oversee a staff of eight people.

Under the committee's plan, the position's salary would increase 3% next year and another 3% the following year, climbing from $55,223 to $58,586 a year. Other supervisor salaries would remain frozen at $9,536.

So, let's look at the savings of cutting the board:

Board Chair: $58,586
24 Supervisors: $228,864
8 Staffers: $320,000 (estimate @ $40,000/year)

Total for a smaller board: $607,450

Winnebago's entire County Board budget: $110,000 (approx - I will update when I look at a budget book)

The Chair makes an extra $5,000 over the rest of the supervisors. I might make $2,000 this year total.

There are no savings for a smaller board.

Chairman Albrecht Gets It Right...

2007-05-04T07:12:00.000-05:00

In today's OshNW:

County Board Chairman David Albrecht said some supervisors complained to him about the plan because it could limit the board's ability to use reserves to fill budget shortfalls.

"A lot of supervisors are saying we're putting money away so they can't keep doing business as usual," Albrecht said.

That is the problem with this issue. People are fighting to keep it 'business as usual'.

That is not right, it is a formula for future budget problems.

A cannot say it more plain than this:

If a supervisor votes against designating the sick leave fund, they are voting to lie to the voters, the financiers and themselves.

These Supervisors want to be able to say at budget time, we have $XX million in reserve, we can afford to take from that rather than take responsibility for the budget. The problem is that the number they quote will be wrong.

As Exec Harris said in yesterdays meeting, you can't spend the same dollar twice. The sick leave benefit dollars are already committed. If we leave them in the general fund, Supervisors will want to spend them.

Spending more than you have leads to bankruptcy. Bankruptcy on the County Government level leads to losses of services to people who need them most.

I will continue to fight for Winnebago County to report it's finances correctly. I will not allow Supervisors to lie to the public.

Or to themselves.

I'm Disappointed...

2007-04-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

... in the vote to send this resolution back to committee.

The OshNW covered the story here. I commented here.

As I stated in the meeting. A supervisor that does not support truthful reporting of budget liabilities is doing it so they can raid the fund 'guilt free' in the future.

(And by guilt free, I mean they know what they are doing, but they are trying to pull one on citizens)

This is simple truth in reporting to Winnebago County Citizens. I hope the committee sends it back for us to pass.

Take Back Medication Program in Winnebago County

2007-04-16T07:43:00.000-05:00

The Northwestern covers this program today:

Household pharmaceuticals accepted during the drop-off include human and animal prescriptions and over the counter medications such as pills, capsules, ointments, liquids, sprays, drops, creams, inhalers, and vials.

Traditional ways of managing unwanted household medications is to flush them down the toilet or throw them in the trash, neither of which is advisable, said Jennifer Semrau, recycling specialist for Winnebago County.

“People have a misconception that the wastewater treatment plant will take care of it when they flush medications down the toilet. Flushing is not safe,” Semrau said.

Water quality is adversely affected by flushing medications and treatment plants don’t process them. It is better to take old meds to events such as Operation Take Back Medications, she said.
...
More information is available by contacting Mary Kohrell in Calumet County at (920) 849-1450; Sue Gau in Outagamie County at (920) 968-5721; Debbie Krogwold in Waupaca County at (715) 258-6240; and Semrau in Winnebago County at (920) 232-1850.
...
May 29 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Oshkosh Senior Center Annex, 234 N. Campbell Road, Oshkosh

I Agree With Exec Harris - We need to be responsible in budgeting.

2007-04-06T07:45:00.000-05:00

Read the full story in the OshNW here.

Funding sick time payouts, county moves to designate reserve funds
By Bethany K. Warner of The Northwestern

A change in government accounting practices is prompting a move by Winnebago County to bank funds to cover the cost of sick time payouts for retirees.

County Executive Mark Harris is asking the county board to designate $3.5 million of the county's $10 million reserve fund as an earmarked fund to cover the sick-time payouts.
...
Harris said creating a specific fund to cover workers' retirement payouts would make it harder for the board to raid reserves to cover holes in the budget, a practice they have followed in the past several years.

"It would serve as a reminder to them that if they wanted to dip into them, they are designated for an already incurred expense. It's making it clear to the board that there is a liability. It protects part of our reserves," Harris said.

If a Supervisor votes against this, it will be because they want to again use the accounting gimmics and tricks we have seen in the last few budgets.

This is money that is has been spent, even though it sits in our accounts. We need to be more responsible and make sure we are collecting the money we plan to spend.

Meeting Feb 27

2007-02-21T17:46:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-19T18:13:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-16T17:12:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-06T12:02:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-06T07:43:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-05T12:10:00.000-06:00

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.

Oshkosh Youth Soccer Club's Statement on Fees

2007-01-11T12:41:00.000-06:00

Click here for ethe full statement.

Something to remember:

This year alone, Oshkosh Youth Soccer Club spent $8,000 for goals and nets for this complex. Also, Oshkosh United Soccer Club and Oshkosh Youth Soccer Club members donated hundreds of hours of volunteer time to repaint the shelter in the soccer complex; remove rocks from fields and fill holes in fields (for safety reasons); and plant grass seed, to name just a few projects - all for the betterment of the soccer complex at Winnebago County Park.

Do the Russian's Love Their Children, Too?

2007-01-11T12:11:00.000-06:00

I don't know if anyone remembers this song from the 80's (I believe by Sting...), but the gist is that we will both (USA & USSR) have a future if we both love our children equally. This was the Cold War, after all.

I was reminded of this song while going over the agenda for this month's board meeting.

Specifically these 2 resolutions:

RESOLUTION NO. 144-12007: Authorize Construction of a Communication Arts Center at the UWFox Valley Campus at a Cost of $12,600,000 with Winnebago County's Share Being $5,300,000 and Fund County Portion Through Bonding
Submitted by:
UW FOX VALLEY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
FACILITIES & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

ORDINANCE NO. 147-12007: Create Sec. 19.24(12), General Code of Winnebago County; Authorize Institution of Community Park Soccer Field Reservation Fees
Submitted by:
PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE

I believe these resolutions directly affect the (admittedly hyperbolic) question above.

Of course, Winnebago loves their children.

But, are we willing to invest in them? Are the board's priorities in line with the interests of our children?

The budget and how an organization spends it's resources is a higher statement of its morals and priorities than is any mission statement.

I believe in investing in Winnebago County's youth. I will vote for the theater and against the soccer fees.

Here It Comes, Again...

2007-01-09T17:51:00.000-06:00

MOBILIZE THE SOCCER MOM'S!!!

On the Agenda for next Tuesday's (Jan 16, 2007) meeting:

ORDINANCE NO. 147-12007:
Create Sec. 19.24(12), General Code of Winnebago County; Authorize Institution of Community Park Soccer Field Reservation Fees
Submitted by: PARKS & RECREATION COMMITTEE

I am 100% against this. In the last budget, we added in $170,000 to the budget, just because we could, yet we want to once again charge our youth to use soccer fields.

Let's get some people out to the meeting.

New Board Map

2006-12-18T23:05:00.000-06:00

12/19/06 Board Agenda and Thoughts

2006-12-14T11:46:00.000-06:00

Click here for the Agenda & Resolutions

Here is the specific agenda

My thoughts:

RESOLUTION NO. 137-122006: Instruct County Executive to Prepare a Zero-based Budget for 2008
It is not our job to tell the County Executive what to do. The County Executive is an elected official. Our job as a board is to either approve, deny or override his actions. I will not vote for this. If this or any other County Executive wants to budget in any matter of ways they feel is best, I encourage them to. We will then go over it line by line and amend as needed.

ORDINANCE NO. 136-122006: Amend Section 2.01 of the General Code of Winnebago County
This will be the one everyone will be talking about in the morning - the new map. I am inclined to vote for it., simply on the basis that it seems to have been drawn fairly. I understand that some supervisors may have a second map that they have worked on. If so, I reserve the right to vote this one down if the other map is more equitable.

While I voted against the shrinking of the board, it passed. And, as such, we need a map to reflect this fact.

I still am happy with 38.

RESOLUTION NO. 135-122006: Authorize Request for Legal Expense Coverage from the Wisconsin County Mutual Insurance Corporation
I want to know what this is for. I have not had a chance to open my packet yet (it arrived in the mail yesterday). Is this to cover costs for the board size lawsuit? I don't know. I have questions to be answered before I make a call on this.

RESOLUTION NO. 134-122006: Transfer $3,300 from Salary Contingency Fund to Corporation Counsel's2006 Wage and Benefit Budgets to Cover Projected Cost Overrun as a Result of Temporary Help Needs
We discussed that this was coming in the budget workshop. I will support it.

RESOLUTION NO. 131-122006: Accept $10,000 Donation for Renovation of a Steinway Piano at Park View Health Center
I will be abstaining from this vote, as I work for J. J. Keller. I am proud of my company, however.

RESOLUTION NO. 128-122006: Authorize Beverage Pouring Rights Agreement Between Winnebago County and Pepsi Americas Inc.
My knee-jerk is to support this. I am OK with recreational areas being sponsored (I would vote against it if it were a school). I want some more info. If there is a soccer or rugby tournament, are they required to sell only loose cans of Pepsi? When we have our Democratic Party Corn Roast, we give away soda free as part of admission - is this to be Pepsi only (will I have to deny myself my grape Jolly Good)?

RESOLUTION NO. 126-122006: Support Revision or Repeal of Section 70.11(21), Stats.
Due to a recent court ruling, all paper companies in Winnebago County could declare themselves free of property taxes. This is a resolution recomending the state fill in that loophole. I will be voting for it, and I am a co-sponsor.

As I get answers, I will post them.

A view from a former County Board Member and Current County Employee:

2006-12-13T07:53:00.000-06:00

A letter to the Oshkosh Northwestern:

County employees good value for taxpayers
As a newly minted homeowner (and landlord), I was stunned when I opened my first property-tax bill. Wow, that's a lot of money!

Then I considered what I'm paying for. From my nearly two decades with the county government in two branches, I'm convinced I'm getting my money's worth.
Winnebago County is frugal. Tax dollars are spent carefully and wisely. Your county government does what it should do — and must do — and no more. You are served by more than 1,000 dedicated employees. By the way, we're also your neighbors. And I gladly will pay for this vital work. I have extensive contacts in other local governments, and I'm convinced they also are careful with our money.

Cynics will say this is a self-serving letter from a guy who makes his living at taxpayers' expense, rather than seeking his fortune in a "real" job. But consider this: Without going into detail, I know precisely what I'm worth in the private sector. Yet I've chosen to remain a public servant and government employee. I am not "stuck" in a government job. I truly enjoy public service, and serve proudly.

My political record speaks for itself. I wouldn't sit quietly and watch tax dollars
get squandered. I know I'm getting my money's worth.

During the last two budget sessions, there was a lot of foolish talk of letting the government practically shut down just to see what would happen. That was the position of many of my fellow conservatives. But it's not conservative to let crime increase, poverty and other social ills balloon, schools crumble (ala California and Colorado) and streets turn to dust, only to realize the horrible mistake years later. The cost to fix neglect in the future would only multiply manifold. That's neither wise nor conservative.

Ron J. Montgomery Oshkosh

It didn't have to be this way....

2006-12-06T12:04:00.000-06:00

From the Oshkosh Northwestern:

Tax bills sent out from the city ultimately will bring in more than $70 million in tax levy dollars for the city, county, Fox Valley Technical College and Oshkosh school district. The city levy – just under $25.6 million – is the largest dollar amount of the taxing entities. The Winnebago County portion of the tax bill has the biggest percentage increase from last year, up 5 percent from last year.

The County levy is for Oshkosh property owners is $5.47/$1,000 in 2006, it was $5.21/$1,000 in 2005.

The original budget proposed with the sales tax had about a $4.80/$1,000 rate (I will update this later when I find the exact number.

Just a reminder to those who said the sales tax would not reduce the property tax.

The map is coming...

2006-11-21T07:47:00.000-06:00

Here is the agenda for next weeks Judiciary meeting where it is being presented.

My biggest disapointment from the budget session...

2006-11-14T12:08:00.000-06:00

...was the loss of the Domestic Violence Investigator.

This is a very nessasary position. Domestic violence is a growing problem in Winnebago County and our area overall.

I presented at the budget deliberations figures from for Christine Ann Center showing services have gone up anywhere from 130-190% over the same time period in 2005.

The day of one of the votes on this position, the Northwestern had an opinion piece about the two domestic violence murders Oshkosh saw last year.

And now, on the day of the next meeting we hear of another domestic violence-related murder in Ripon.

Yet, our County Board found the courage to add $170,000 to the tax rolls to add to reserves, but did not have the spine to budget $84,000 for the protection of women in our county.

Shame.

A Bad Budget...

2006-11-03T08:35:00.000-06:00

I will have a budget wrap-up post next week, after Tuesday's elections.

The numbers I was talking about tonight...

2006-10-30T23:41:00.000-06:00

Here is a breakdown of what I was talking about in my sales tax statement.

No matter what, any increase will be off of a smaller base, so therefore no matter the percentage increase, property taxes would always be less:

Property Tax Rates:

Year w/o sales tax w/ sales tax savings
2007 $ 5.00 $ 4.35 $ 0.65
2008 $ 5.10 $ 4.44 $ 0.66
2009 $ 5.20 $ 4.53 $ 0.68
2010 $ 5.31 $ 4.62 $ 0.69
2011 $ 5.41 $ 4.71 $ 0.70
2012 $ 5.52 $ 4.80 $ 0.72
2013 $ 5.63 $ 4.90 $ 0.73
2014 $ 5.74 $ 5.00 $ 0.75

In the example above, we impliment the sales tax in 2007, or we don't. The difference is $0.65 per 1000 0f the tax rate. We then increase both by 2% per year.

In this example, it will will be 2014 before the rate with the sales tax catches up to where it was in 2007 without the sales tax.

In the meantime, the owner of a $100,000 house pays over $550 in extra property taxes.

There would have been real savings.

Northwestern Editorial: County Board Should Question Diebold

2006-10-06T06:39:00.000-05:00

The Northwestern is right on in this analysis. Maybe we should have had a real forum and not a sales presentation:

Editorial: Final tally: County fails to deliver on high-tech election equipment

You buy a new DVD player. It's the one with high-quality images that will flow right into your older TV set. So, you get home, anxiously rip open the box, hook it up and press play.

The DVD movie inside is spinning and playing. But there's no picture to the TV screen. Something is wrong. It isn't working like the literature said it would, and it's not your fault.

Wouldn't you be a little miffed if that happened to you?

The problem Winnebago County and Wisconsin had with touch-screen voting machines is about just as frustrating… if you're willing to acknowledge something went wrong, that is.

On Sept. 12, Winnebago County voters and even county board members learned the hard way that the so-called "compatibility" of Diebold Elections Systems' touch-screen voting machines wasn't all that. County and municipal clerks statewide knew scanned paper ballots vs. touch screen ballots would not be compatible in the primary election and would require the manual entering of data collected by the touch-screens.

The touch screen election technology Winnebago County and other counties spent federally-mandated millions on wouldn't flow vote totals into county databases pooling all votes into results. So, clerks typed in the touch-screen totals recorded on paper records.

That's not how Diebold sold it to the full county board.

This morning, a county board committee will take up one skeptical supervisor's call to deny Diebold payment for 50 touch-screen machines. Supervisor Jef Hall argues voters didn't get what they paid for.

It's a debate worth having.

Winnebago County Clerk Sue Ertmer vouches for the system and Diebold. The Nov. 7 general election, she said, will work. Diebold's touch-screen machines will be tested ahead of time. They will "modem" vote totals over phone lines and flow those results into those tallied by conventional optical scan machines – the ones that swallow and tally most voters' ballots.

No hand tabulating. No potential human errors.

But there are still some questions worth asking this morning, including:

E Why didn't our clerks, Diebold or even the State Elections Board's executive director make clear that the compatibility issue would bog down the Sept. 12 election process? One is left to assume that they dared not broach a compatibility shortcoming when "compatibility" was Diebold's chief selling point to Winnebago County.

E Why did clerks in populous municipalities of St. Croix, Chippewa, Dunn and Waushara counties choose non-Diebold touch-screens to complement their Diebold optical scan machines? They have the same ballot-scan stuff Winnebago has, but, they chose a different company for touch screens. Apparently, they didn't buy or worry about Diebold's compatibility line.

There's been much ado about the electronic security of Diebold equipment. An election integrity watchdog has filed a petition with the State Elections Board asking all touch-screens be shelved due to their hack-ability, if you will.

But if Winnebago County's Diebold dilemma is taken seriously, it's not nefarious election hackers we need to worry about.

It's the sales pitches of companies selling us the goods.

Final Thought: There are fair questions to ask of the folks who sold us on the new voting technology we've got.

One correction to this, however. The meeting is this afternoon at 5:00PM, not this morning.

Northwestern does story on my Diebold resolution:

2006-10-05T23:49:00.000-05:00

Supervisor urges county to withhold Diebold payment

Company: Problems fixable for November

By Bethany K. Warner of The Northwestern

Winnebago County Board Supervisor Jef Hall is proposing that the county withhold paying Diebold Election Systems for the county's new touch-screen voting machines because they did not perform as promised during the September
primary election.

Hall, the supervisor for the district that includes much of the central city of Oshkosh, wants the county to sit on the payment for the touch-screen voting machines because those machines did not communicate as promised with the county's existing optical scan voting machines following the September primary election. The county board agreed in June to spend $288,000 for the 50 machines.

After polls closed for the primary election in September, the county clerk had to add by hand votes cast on the touch-screen machines to the totals generated from the county's older optical scan machines.

Hall said that shows that the county was sold on the Diebold system with promises that were not true.

"If we were sold something on a fraudulent basis," Hall said, "I don't think we should pay for them until the time they do as we were told."

The problem on election night, state elections board officials said in September, was that a key piece of technology that allows the two systems to tally results together had not yet received federal or state approval for use in elections.

But the company and local election officials on Monday insisted that the problems were a one-time glitch that stemmed not from the technology, but rather from the design of the primary election ballots. That problem can be corrected for the Nov. 7 election, they said.

David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Elections Systems, said the optical-scan and touch-screen machines should communicate with each other if the ballots are designed properly. Bear said he was unaware of any additional piece of voting or counting equipment waiting on approval.

"I don't think so. It was a matter of having to layout a ballot to have a special need for write-ins," Bear said.

The problem that delayed final vote totals after the primary should be corrected by November, said Winnebago County Clerk Sue Ertmer.

Ertmer said Diebold has told her that the machines will communicate without a problem with the November ballot. That ballot is currently waiting for state approval.

Ertmer said she knew that results in September would have to be hand-tabulated but acknowledges she did not alert the county board to that fact.

The money for the voting machines will ultimately be reimbursed to the county by the federal government. The county selected Diebold's touch-screen machines to meet a requirement of the Help America Vote Act to provide voting machines that improve access for disabled voters.

Hall's request goes before the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Friday.

"They don't live up to their commitment and I think we should hold them to that in Winnebago county," Hall said.

Is this a proper agenda?

2006-10-02T21:24:00.000-05:00

From the next Aviation Committee agenda?

5. Discuss & Approve City of Oshkosh Easement Request

Should it really say that they are going to 'approve' on the agenda? 'Discuss and vote' maybe, but I believe 'approve' is not correct.

Deibold Payment on Friday Judiciary Agenda

2006-10-02T21:22:00.000-05:00

Here is the agenda.

The meeting is scheduled Friday @ 5:00.

County Exec Mark Harris' Statement on Not Vetoing the Board Resizing

2006-10-02T20:10:00.000-05:00

Because of the high interest and controversial nature of resolution 89-92006 (Reduce size of Winnebago County to 36 members) I am taking the unusual step of issuing this press release to explain why I am not vetoing the resolution.

There are four primary issues, which I considered in order to make my decision.
1) Was the Board action consistent with the provisions and intent of the 2005 Wisconsin Act 100?
2) Would the districts created by the reduction of two board seats create an indefensible disparity in population?
3) Was the Board’s vote so inconsistent with the sentiments of the underlying districts or so injurious to the County to warrant reversal of a majority vote?
4) Is there any redress for the citizens whose efforts to reduce the Board have been blocked without a vote of the electorate?

Under the rules of construction one must assign a reasonable interpretation to the language of a statute and all language must be assigned some meaning. Act 100 seems to deliberately provide for a race to the courthouse scenario. It provides “If the number of supervisors in a county is decreased by the Board or by petition under this paragraph, no further action may be taken by the board or by petition … until after enactment of the next decennial supervisory district plan.” Clearly the Boards action was within the rule in the statute. Had the petition to reduce the Board to 19 been completed and filed with the Clerk first, Board action would have been blocked.

It is believed that a 36 district plan that can not change ward boundaries would have a population deviation of as much as 15.8%. This is clearly beyond the 10% that is generally regarded as a safe harbor for minor deviations and it creates a prima facie case of discrimination. However, in the recent case Frank V Forrest County 336F.3rd 570 an 18% deviation was upheld. The deviation here arises from
the provisions of a poorly drafted state statute that does not allow changes in underlying wards. It is unlikely that the districting would loose a challenge unless the statute is found to be unconstitutional. If the statute were thrown out then no change in districts would be allowed between decennial census.

On close examination it appears that the majority of Board members who voted in favor of the reduction to 36 districts represent rural or northern districts. In those districts there is little apparent interest in reducing board size. There seems to be strong sentiments against a reduction of board size in many rural districts. Further I cannot identify any significant injury to the County from their action.

The citizens that seek a large reduction in and reform of the Board can further their cause through electing reform minded candidates in the 2008 and 2010 elections. Even the sponsors of resolution 89-92006 support the continued efforts of the temporary committee and are willing to give fair consideration to board reforms to improve efficiency. They do not however support a large reduction in the Board and believe that their districts oppose such reductions.

While I would have preferred either a reduction to 25 board members or allowing the citizens to proceed with their petition drive, I do not find sufficient justification to cast a veto.

...and then there were 36

2006-09-28T11:48:00.000-05:00

The board voted to reduce itself to 36 on Tuesday. The Northwestern has some stong opinions about it here and here.

The OshNW is being a little unfair in my opinion by telling only half the story. What is the rate of competition for the seats of those supervisors that voted no?

They make it seem like only the ones safe in their seats voted yes. There are many supervisors who voted no that are also safe in their seats.

This goes into the reason that I voted no on this resolution (and would have voted no on all of them given the chance). There is no hard data on any number indicating that it would be a good level of representation.

I think Vice-Chair Schaidler put it the most eloquently. Even if we half the board, there would be no net increase in the number of people running for these seats, there would only be less seats to run for.

Until I am presented with a reasoned explanation along with a plan for board function, I will vote no for any change in the board size whether it is at the board itself, or on a referendum.

I also do not believe that the 1990 study is relevent anymore. It may be helpful, but the duties, function ond funding of county government hav substantially changed in the last 16 years.

I agree that we need a real study. We should vote on facts and reasoned consequences not whim, fear or emotion.

As always, contact me anytime to share your opinion or with any questions.

Voting Security

2006-09-26T07:30:00.000-05:00

From the Center for American Progress:

Something Advocap does:

2006-09-26T00:40:00.000-05:00

Advocap meal delivery program nourishes seniors' bodies, spirits
Donations help keep service up and running
By Kara Patterson
Post-Crescent staff writer
Ruth Slomski, 80, says she is relieved that she receives noontime meals ready to eat every weekday, and also appreciates the frozen meals that get her through each weekend.

The Winnebago County Nutrition Program's home-delivered meal program — run through Advocap Inc. and bolstered by United Way Fox Cities funds — has become a saving grace for the Neenah resident's health and independence.

"I'm living with my son and he's gone to work," Slomski said Thursday. "I'm in a wheelchair and I burnt myself several times, in blisters. My daughter said it's time for me to stay away from anything (involved with hot meal preparation)."

What's happening
The Nutrition Program, which also includes 11 group sites, offers meals that provide one-third of the recommended dietary intake for older adults.

Each meal costs $7.09 but meals are free for participants, who mostly are age 60 and up, said Nutrition Program director Terri Stern.

However, their goodwill donations, which average $2.42 per meal in United Way's service area, make up about 30 percent of the Nutrition Program's total budget, Stern said.

How it works
Paid and volunteer drivers deliver meals. One menu offers meatloaf with a side of tomatoes and zucchini, scalloped potatoes, white bread, diced peaches, a Rice Krispie bar and milk.

About 67 percent of participants in United Way's service area who responded to a January survey depend upon the noon meals for half or more of their daily food intake.

Slomski said she usually saves her fruit or dessert to eat later with her afternoon medications.

What's ahead
Stern said United Way dollars in 2007 could help protect the Nutrition Program from financial distress. The program received $36,225 in 2006.

"If we did not have United Way funding, we'd be talking about having to scale back services, plain and simple," she said.

For more information about the Nutrition Program, call Stern at 920-725-6323 or 800-631-2791. Advocap's Web site is www.advocap.org.

19, 25, 32, 36 or 38

2006-09-25T12:46:00.000-05:00

We will be considering all of those tomorrow night.

Here is the agenda.

Here are all of the resolutions: 25 - 32 - 36

19 is coming through signatures (if the get them, the effort is underway). 38 is if nothing is done.

If 25, 32 or 36 passes this week and is signed by the County Exec, the signature drive ends.

Should be a fun one...

2006-09-20T07:44:00.000-05:00

The next agenda for the full county board is here.

3 resolutions should end up getting attention...

RESOLUTION NO. 89-92006: Reduce Size of Winnebago County Board to 36 Members
Submitted by:
PATRICK OÂBRIEN, DIST. #38
HARVEY RENGSTORF, DIST. #37
CHUCK FARREY, DIST. #30
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISORS

RESOLUTION NO. 90-92006: Withhold Payment to Diebold for Voting Machines Until Fully Functional
Submitted by:
JEF HALL, DIST. #17
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR

RESOLUTION NO. 91-92006: Authorize Reduction of Size of County Board from 38 to 32 Members
Submitted by:
DAVID ALBRECHT, DIST. #11
COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR

Why are there 2 resolutions on board size? Progress Oshkosh is starting a petition today. Once the petition is in, we cannot reduce ourselves. However, if we reduce ourselves before it is in, it doesn't matter if they turn in a petition, we can only be reduced once betweencensusess.

From the Progess Oshkosh email:

Progress Oshkosh has rescheduled "The Power Hour of Progress" to Wednesday, Sept 20th at the Algoma Club in downtown Oshkosh at 5:30PM. There are 4 items on the agenda:

1. Launch a Referendum drive for the Winnebago County Board. The Citizens Unite to Transform the Winnebago County Board (CUT Winnebago County Board) will begin their Referendum Drive for reducing the Size of the Winnebago County Board from 38 members to 19 members. (Presented by the CUT Winnebago County Board Committee)

This is an end-around to get past the petition. What will happen? I don't know. I will listen to people's arguments. I will act if there are real reasons.

Just like I don't believe Progress Oshkosh has a good reason to come up with the number 19, I will listen for reasons that 36 or 32 were chosen.

I have our IS Committee meeting tonight, so I will be stopping by Progress Oshkosh's event, but will be unable to stay for it all.

I'll report more tomorrow...

One other comment on Tuesday's resolutions...

What did we accomplish by removing the position?

RESOLUTION: Transfer $40,000 from the Salary Contingency Fund to the Wage and Benefit Accounts of District Attorney Department's 2006 Budget

TO THE WINNEBAGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
WHEREAS, the 2006 budget for this department was reduced by one legal secretary; and

WHEREAS, the amount of work has remained the same or increased slightly; and

WHEREAS, the remaining legal secretaries have worked more overtime to complete the required workload; and

WHEREAS, as a result of the three above items, there will not be sufficient funds in the departments budget to fund the wages and benefits for the entire year 2006.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby appropriates $40,000 from the Salary Contingency Fund of Winnebago County's General Fund to the District Attorney's Wage and Benefit Account of the 2006 budget.

Fiscal note: This will reduce the salary contingency fund by $40,000.

I am probably going to vote for this, but I think the point needs to be made that we cannot continue to cut in areas that are mandated. We will not save any money, as this shows.

If we are going to cut, it needs tomeaningfulfull. Or, we need to be honest about how many people it takes to do this work.

Diebold did not do what we were told it would do...

2006-09-14T12:09:00.000-05:00

I will be submitting a resolution to ask for a refund/payment from Diebold for the overtime.

The Northwestern is right on here:

As our county clerks spent the day manually entering touch-screen vote totals into a catch-call county database, our State Elections Board explained a component that helps the new Diebold machines combine information with the old is, effectively, on order.

The Federal
Elections Commission hasn't approved it yet. Might be next year. Also, a formatting issue between digital and paper versions of our ballots swamped quick results. So, our county clerks spent Tuesday night and all day Wednesday flowing the touch-screen's paper results into the county's main vote database.

This is not the scenario that we were sold. Would Diebold please explain to everyone what exactly wasn't explained before we signed our contract?

Were we lied to?

2006-09-13T17:50:00.000-05:00

When the County Board approved the Diebold purchase (I voted nay), we were told that we could only purchase Diebold because they worked with our current systems.

I asked why we could not use a system that is not complimentary with the current one and simply count those separately. There are electronic systems out there that will print an actual ballot - I consider these more safe.

The Outagamie County Clerk told the board that in her county they have more than one system, and that a single system would be better because of efficiency. They spend all night putting together their results and it takes too long.

I asked if thier results are correct, and she said yes, of course they are - even with the different systems.

We were then told by Diebold and our clerks that with thier system, this would not be a problem, because all were in sync. Election results would be instant!

Then we see this:

Vote tabulation continues
Officials in the Winnebago County Clerk's office are still counting votes from Tuesday’s election this morning, but expect to be done tallying votes by noon.

The final results in the election were delayed because of the need to manually enter votes cast on the new touch-screen voting machines.

The touch-screen machines were used for the first time in this election after being purchased in June to bring the county into compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act, which was intended to provide more access to the polls for disabled voters.

The problem stems from the design of the ballot approved by the State Elections Board, which was in a format that was incompatible with the new machines’ vote tabulating system.About 1,200 ballots were cast Tuesday using the new machines.

Clerks assure that the problem is easily remedied and will be corrected in time for the Nov. 7 election.

Will it? We were told the problem would not happen at all...

Progress Oshkosh Launching County Board Size Referendum

2006-09-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

From an email I received:

Progress Oshkosh has rescheduled "The Power Hour of Progress" to Wednesday, Sept 20th at the Algoma Club in downtown Oshkosh at 5:30PM. There are 4 items on the agenda:

1. Launch a Referendum drive for the Winnebago County Board. The Citizens Unite to Transform the Winnebago County Board (CUT Winnebago County Board) will begin their Referendum Drive for reducing the Size of the Winnebago County Board from 38 members to 19 members. (Presented by the CUT Winnebago County Board Committee)

Observations:

1. How did they come up with the number 19?

2. Don't show up if you are a person with a disability - the Algoma Club is not accessible.

Meeting on County Board Size Tomorrow!

2006-09-12T16:54:00.000-05:00

Here is the agenda.

I will not be able to make it.

Babblemur (Oshkosh Blogger & Poll Worker) Has a Recap of Diebold Training

2006-09-01T01:49:00.000-05:00

Click here for his coverage.

Committee On County Board Size Meeting Recap

2006-08-29T22:34:00.000-05:00

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.

Committee on County Board Size Meeting Tonight

2006-08-28T12:21:00.000-05:00

There is a meeting tonight for this committee - the agenda is here and the Northwestern article is here.

A few comments about the debate on this at the last meeting:

1) I do not think that the League of Women Voter's should have a voting place on this committee. They have all ready stated that they feel the board size should be reduced. They should be invited to testify and contribute to the discussion, but not a seat at the table.

2) The LWV, if it has a seat, should be off-set by a group or individual that has a stated position for retaining the size of the board to provide balance to the debate.

3) The LWV should not have 2 of 3 citizen representatives on this board. This is wrong to have a group with a stated position have a majority of the non-board member seats.

4) One of the biggest arguments that the Winnebago County Board is to large is that there is very little competition for the seats. However, of the 38 seats, 7 (18%) of them are held by people, such as myself, that have served on the board for less than 1 full term. We should have a seat on the committee to provide a fresh perspective on the debate. As it is, the committee is full of people that have been though this process before.

If we want to ensure that the committee works and is fair, the structure and process should have worked differently. This is why I moved to eliminate one of the Supervisors on the committee in favor of a newly elected on, and why I wanted the members to be voted on individually.

The process for establishing this was a failure, how can we expect the results to be different?

See you at the meeting tonight.

Something District 17 Will Not Have to Worry About While I am the Supervisor:

2006-08-15T12:12:00.000-05:00

A Winnebago County Board supervisor from Menasha took the NFL replay approach in studying the too-big-or-right-sized issue of county board size.

Paul Eisen went to the replay booth, so to speak.

Eisen, 63, an insurance broker elected in April, said he reviewed six months worth of Winnebago board meeting video tapes and an additional 10 hours of 2006 county budget hearings and reviews last fall.

His focus: Who was talking, questioning — just participating — in the 38-member County Board's debates? What were the numbers like? Was there diversity? "Diversity," meaning how many of the supervisors actually chimed in on the year's big issues, from a half-percent sales tax to a new county nursing home?

Were there some citizens whose elected or appointed rep never spoke up at all over the time period?

Here is the whole story.

Referendum on Board Size to Launch

2006-08-12T00:08:00.000-05:00

I recieved this email today from Progress Oshkosh:

Progress Oshkosh will be hosting a full membership meeting called "The Power Hour of Progress" on Sept 21st at the Algoma Club in downtown Oshkosh at 5:30PM. There are 3 items on the agenda:

1. Launch a Referendum drive for the Winnebago County Board. The Citizens Unite to Transform the Winnebago County Board (CUT Winnebago County Board) will begin their Referendum Drive for reducing the Size of the Winnebago County Board from 38 members to 19 members. (Presented by the CUT Winnebago County Board Committee)

It looks like County Chair Abrecht was a little late in his efforts.

New Agenda is Up For Full County Board Meeting

2006-08-09T08:36:00.000-05:00

Includes:

State of the County Report – Mark Harris, County Executive, and Chuck Orenstein, Finance Director

That should be very interesting going into budgeting.

Also on the agenda is to make a Temporary Committee on County Board Size.

The Chair has also submitted 7 of the 8 members:

County Board Supervisor Nominees:

David Albrecht
Nancy
Barker
Bernard Egan
Patrick O’Brien
Thomas Widener

Citizen Nominees:

Joe Noll, 2867 Oakridge Road, Neenah, WI 54956
Kathleen Propp, 1936 Hazel Street, Oshkosh, WI 54901

Northwestern on the Board Size:

2006-07-19T22:24:00.000-05:00

I made the paper...

Board size on table for third time since 1990
County Board chairman soon to tap panel to study possible reduction of 38 supervisors; past studies fizzled
By Alex Hummel of The Northwestern
The third Winnebago County Board study of its membership size in about 16 years is on the way, and it's hard to argue the always-contentious topic hasn't had its share of look-sees.

On Tuesday, Winnebago County Board Chairman David Albrecht, of Oshkosh, laid out basic expectations and questions for a panel that will be appointed in the next month. It will be the third since 1990 to consider whether the 38 supervisor board, among the largest of its kind in Wisconsin, should shrink.

Yes or no, the more eye-opening result may be whether the new findings get any more respect than their predecessors.

This time around, the rules have changed, Albrecht stressed. A new state law gives county boards and referendum-focused citizens power to alter county board sizes in between once-a-decade U.S. Census counts. Traditionally supervisory district lines were adjusted to account for population changes every 10 years.

Citizen and political groups around Wisconsin – including the League of Women Voters chapters in Winnebago County – are already mulling or pushing petition drives to put board-reducing referenda on fall ballots. Boards, on the other hand, can vote to thin their own ranks.

"I know for a fact somebody's going to do it for us if we don't start looking into it," Albrecht said during his presentation Tuesday, which cited six counties "actively in the process" of considering board size changes.

Albrecht said he plans to appoint five County Board supervisors to the new panel. They'll include supervisors with urban and rural constituencies. The panel also will feature pro and anti board-size shrinkers. Albrecht hinted that the Oshkosh Area League of Women Voters, which has long advocated a smaller Winnebago County
Board, will have a seat.

Supervisor Jef Hall of Oshkosh questioned whether the League's presence doesn't instantly slant the panel.

"It will be worked out fairly," Albrecht said.

Board vice chairman, Supervisor John Schaidler of Menasha, urged the new committee to review the work of the previous county panels that studied and authored reports on board size. But history shows past conclusions received cool-at-best receptions.
In 1990, a "Task Force Study: Efficiency and Effectiveness of Winnebago County Government" was, largely, ditched.

The supervisor, citizen, county staff and University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh faculty task force examined everything from board compensation to board size to committee structure. Among its key recommendations: A county board somewhere between 15 and 30 supervisors.

One conclusion even pronounced "A large board is not necessary to operate Winnebago County government" given "most county boards throughout the United States have between five and 15 members. It is highly unlikely that Winnebago County possesses such unique characteristics that it requires such a large board for its operations."

The 1990 task force also concluded "a large board does not provide more citizen representation," "a large board may discourage citizen participation," "a large board makes it difficult to have an efficient decision-making process," and "a large board costs a good deal of money."

Supervisor Joe Maehl of Neenah begged to differ on the latter Tuesday.

"In plain black and white dollars, it is not cheaper," Maehl, a size-reduction opponent, said.

In 2000, a second County Board size examination was headed off before it formally started. The mere suggestion of a supervisor reduction was killed. In its place, an "exploration committee" studied the re-sorting of the county's 30 committees and commissions.

In the end, the committee suggested increasing supervisor meeting pay. Its call for reorganization fizzled.

I have written on this before here.

Groundbreaking set for new Park View

2006-07-17T08:57:00.000-05:00

Project 'going well,' administrator says
By Krista B. Ledbetter of The Northwestern

If You Go

What: Groundbreaking for new Park View Health Center

When: 2 p.m., Aug. 9

Where: 725 Butler Ave.

Years of planning and months of plan changing have finally led to a groundbreaking for the new Park View Health Center.

Margie Rankin, administrator of Park View, said construction of the new county-owned nursing home is scheduled to start on Aug. 9.

"The project is really going well," Rankin said. "There haven't been any major barriers. We're progressing nicely."

Mike Elder, director of the Winnebago County Facilities and Property Management Department, said no changes have been made to the plans since the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors approved the $23.34 million project in late February.

The board approved the project as a 136,000-square-foot facility with 168 beds, 54 fewer than Park View is now licensed for. The county had been studying options for the current 56-year-old Park View since late 2002.

Elder also said the Park View and facilities and property management committees are in the process of getting bids out for foundation and site work, and another bid
project will go out later in the summer for the remainder of the project.

Rankin said construction of the new nursing home is expected to last about 16 months.

Since the project was approved, a construction fund and a permanent endowment fund have been set up through the Oshkosh Community Foundation, Rankin said.

"People also have an opportunity to make a donation directly to Park View," she said.

Shrink the County Board?

2006-07-07T13:09:00.000-05:00

Winnebago board chair to ask for committee to study board size
By Alex Hummel
of the Northwestern

The chairman of the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors said he plans to ask his 37 peers to back the formation of a special committee to study the shrinking of the full county board.

“I personally think our board functions fine,” said County Board Chairman and Supervisor David Albrecht of Oshkosh. “(But 38 supervisors) may not be the number we come up with … I also know from different times in board history we could have eliminated four positions and never missed a beat.”

Albrecht is not saying it should shrink, but he said in two weeks he will recommend a special board committee be created to study a possible reduction in the 38-member board. The panel may not be officially formed until August or September he said.

Albrecht plans to outline background and directions for this would-be panel during the county board’s regular, July 18 meeting.He said his presentation, delayed in June due to lingering controversy on touch-screen voting machines, will include some discussion of other counties that are approving or considering board size reductions around Wisconsin. It would also outline some general assignments and expectations of the committee.

The Northwestern will have more on this story in Saturday's edition.

I am looking forward to this debate. I personally believe that more representation is better (I discuss that here). And wheterh they will admit it or not, the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance agrees as well:

Using sophisticated statistical techniques, WISTAX researchers found that, after accounting for other factors, an increase in county board size of one supervisor was associated with lower spending of $8 to $10 per resident.

I do hope that the Board (and Chair) will approach this discussion (as well as committee assignment) in a more open manner than has been done previously this term.

The $2500 Sales Presentation

2006-07-07T12:11:00.000-05:00

Here I am, filling out my Per Diem Report (a time card for County Board Supervisors) when it hits me.

We get paid $60 for full board meetings vs $40 for committee hearings. That means the 25 Supervisors present at the Diebold sales presentation last month were paid a total of $2100. This does not include the salaries of other county employees or other costs to having a meeting.

Was it really worth it to spend $2500 of County funds to see just one machine and not be allowed a real debate on the issue? Were the taxpayers and voters truly served by this fiasco?

Or was it one big waste of time and money?

It might have been worth it had the County Board Chair listened to the recommendation of the Judiciary and IS (of which I am a member) Committees and invited as many vendors as would attend. We could have gotten real information and accountability out to the public.

As it was, I would hope someone in the county would try to re-coup the money spent on this from Diebold.

It was their sales presentation, after all.

Northwestern: Diebold 'Rushed"

2006-07-05T23:03:00.000-05:00

Listed under their bad news on Public Accountability:

County government rushed to support buying Diebold touch-screen voting machines.

Winnebago's Waters Mean Tourist's Dollars..

2006-07-05T20:41:00.000-05:00

Tournament and recreational fishing on the Lake Winnebago System generates $221.4 million in local spending and supports about 4,300 jobs, according to a survey.
The $221.4 million in spending is near the $230 million tourists spent in Winnebago County in 2005.

Great Letter from the Northwestern

2006-06-30T07:57:00.000-05:00

Trip to Oshkosh was a wonderful experience
My husband and I decided to do a different vacation this year. I literally was standing in the hall of my school where I teach and looked at a U.S. map. Oshkosh looked to be about a day's drive away from our southern Indiana home and I really liked the name. So that was the choice.

I did some online research and found a number of events like the Mexican Rodeo, Country USA, the EAA AirVenture Museum, and the Miss Wisconsin Pageant, and the Omro Fireman's Street dance to name a few. Riverside Cemetery, the Public Museum, the Walleye Tournament, St. Raphael's Church and Kodiak Jack's to name a few more!

I am so glad we chose Oshkosh. Your city impressed me as very clean and well kept. The lake is beautiful and Menominee Park with the statue of Chief Oshkosh (though he doesn't resemble the pictures in the museum, much) was great.

Mostly we found a very friendly city, with lots of help from Tourist Information, the desk clerks at La Quinta, and whomever we were standing in line with or sitting next to at an event.

The first question for us usually was "Why Oshkosh?" and then "What Mexican Rodeo?"

I wanted to write to thank all the people we talked with for their help and good humor, the waitress at Charcoal Grill II for serving those great brats and the lady in Berlin that helped us find the other Union Star Cheese Factory in Fremont.

I certainly would recommend Oshkosh for a wonderful, relaxing vacation and some real friendly people.

Greg and Rosemary Stanley Bedford, Ind.

A Feather in Winnebago's Cap

2006-06-29T16:43:00.000-05:00

Chuck Orenstein, our Director of Finance has been appointed by Gov. Doyle to a task force to examine Milwaukee County's budget problems.

Obviously, the good job Winnebago County does is being recognized.

Here is the press release.

Northwestern Coverage of the Diebold Vote is Right On:

2006-06-21T07:33:00.000-05:00

Here is the story - My favorite parts are highlighted:

Grant, Diebold get nods in county

County Board votes 28-10 to approve reimbursable purchase for touch-screen ballot machines

By Alex Hummel of The Northwestern

You will officially have the choice of darkening ovals or tapping touch-screens in Winnebago County come September.

The Winnebago County Board voted 28-10 Tuesday to spend $288,000 on 50 touch-screen voting machines, one for each county polling place. The technology is recommended by the county's municipal clerks to comply with federal election law. But it continues to rile skeptics warning of 21st century election meddling.

A first attempt to approve the purchase failed in a May board vote, lacking a needed supermajority.

Tuesday's vote was preceded by one more call for delay, additional emphasis on reports of Diebold Election Systems security flaws and new demands to listen to the disabled community, the largely-ignored and long-disenfranchised voting population the new technology is intended to empower.

"Now is not the time to act," said Supervisor Shiloh Ramos of Neenah, urging an August vote so officials could investigate the Help America Vote Act options to satisfy disabled and blind voters. "Now is the time to listen. Now is the time to investigate."

The Help America Vote Act requires improved access to elections for physically disabled, visually-impaired and blind Americans. In Wisconsin, municipal clerks were given the power to recommend which Help America Vote Act-compliant remedies polling places should use.

Winnebago County's clerks favor Diebold's touch-screens, compatible with the county's existing electronic scan ballot counters. The county was tapped as a central purchaser of the technology and will be reimbursed by the federal government.

One touch-screen machine is planned for each of the county's 48 polling places. The city of Oshkosh and Winnebago County each get one extra to help program digital ballots. Clerks ensure the Diebold equipment is safe and secure. But even Tuesday, concerns about security and paper trails dominated debate.

"When I go to a bank and a TYME machine, I get a receipt," said Supervisor Bill Wingren of Oshkosh.
County Clerk Sue Ertmer stressed without the vote Tuesday, it would have been up to the county's individual towns, cities and villages to hustle up and comply with the Vote Act on their own. The technology needs to be in place by this approaching election cycle.

"We can't just wait until July," Ertmer told the board.

If you put Supervisor Ramos' comment together with County Clerk Ertmer's, don't you end up with:

"There is a time to think and there is a time to act. And this, gentlemen, is no time to think." (Bud Boomer, Canadian Bacon)

P.S. - I agreed with Supervisor Ramos 100%

I will have my debate and vote recap of this issue up tonight, hopefully.

Is Someone Trying to Pull a Fast One?

2006-06-19T07:53:00.000-05:00

The agenda for tomorrow's meeting has been amended to include both the original resolution from Judiciary as well as the amended resolution from Supervisor Schaidler.

This seems pretty fishy to me.

The agenda notes that the original resolution was "laid over from June 14, Board Meeting."

However, if you look at the Agenda from June 14th, we voted on:

MOTION TO RECONSIDER RESOLUTION NO. 29-52006:
Authorize Acceptance of a Grant of $294,000 for the Purchase of 49 NewVoting Machines for County and Municipal Use and Appropriate Funds to Capital Outlay Account in the County Clerk’s 2006 Budget for that Purpose
Submittedby:
JOHN SCHAIDLER, DISTRICT28 COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR

Which is the amended resolution, not the original one. In fact, when calling for the vote, Chair Albrecht mentioned several times that it was the amended resolution we were voting on.

I suspect someone does not have their ducks in a row and are trying to cover their butt....

What They Won't Admit When You Are Trying to Buy....

2006-06-18T07:25:00.000-05:00

Diebold takes rap for voting issues
By Staff Reporter
Published: Friday,
June 16, 2006 7:16 PM CDTE
The Kern County Board of Supervisors will meet Tuesday at 9 a.m. to receive a full report on the problems voters experienced in the June 6 primary election from Diebold Elections Systems, Inc. officials and county elections officials.

The company that sold Kern County its $5-million touch-screen voting machines took full responsibility at last week's board meeting.
Diebold representatives told the supervisors that bad voting cards and bad communication caused voters to be turned away from many Kern polls June 6.

“I am happy Diebold stepped up to the plate and admitted their errors, and I look forward to receiving the full report at the next meeting,” said Kern County 1st District Supervisor Jon McQuiston.

The meeting will take place in the board's chambers at 1115 Truxtun Ave. in Bakersfield and will be broadcast on Mediacom Channel 16. Local residents may also participate via the two-way video teleconferencing link at the County Administrative Building at 400 N. China Lake Blvd. Anyone wishing to comment should call McQuiston's Administrative Assistant Craig Peterson at 384-5829.

According to last weeks sales presentation, they don't malfunction.....

Let's Push It Until We Have A Real Hearing

2006-06-17T22:59:00.000-05:00

Touch-screen decision pushed to next week
by Alex Hummel of The Northwestern
Touch-screen voting machines or not, the Winnebago County Board’s indecision is certainly touching a nerve.

On Wednesday, coming off a mid-May county board defeat of a resolution to buy 49 high-tech digital touch-screen voting machines, the Winnebago County Board voted 28-6 to reconsider measure on June 20. They stopped short of actually casting a second vote on a controversial topic.

At its regular meeting on June 20, the 38-member board will reconsider the defeated resolution to spend a federally-reimbursable $288,000 and buy 50 Diebold Elections Systems touch-screen voting machines to comply with the Help America Vote Act.

HAVA contains a provision calling for touch-screen technology, or something like it, to improve access to the U.S. election system for physically disabled, visually-impaired and blind Americans. But what technology is the right technology to incorporate into local polling places is stirring debate in Winnebago County and, apparently, on a scale like none other in Wisconsin, State Elections Board Executive Director Kevin Kennedy said Wednesday.

Kennedy was among the speakers in a supercharged public forum on the issue at the Winnebago County Courthouse. Elected officials, disabled advocates and skeptical citizens aired vastly different views and reviews of Diebold’s technology.

Municipal clerks in Winnebago County favor its machines because they would be the least-costly, most-compatible add-on to the county’s existing electronic-ballot scanning machines. Critics question the equipment’s integrity, its ability to produce paper verification of digital ballots and mounting reports of lawsuits flaring up around the United States as paper jams and security issues dog the machines.

A small anti-Diebold protest greeted supervisors entering the courthouse on Wednesday. The pressure was on Sandy Smick in a different way.

The Oshkosh woman, 61, has a developmental disability. Bad knees and, sometimes, the lack of a ride to the polling place have prevented her from voting, she said. But Wednesday evening, she found herself giving the Diebold touch-screen voting machine causing such a ruckus a try in front of 38 county supervisors. She dished out fairly high marks.

“Pretty cool,” Smick said smiling, having tapped her decision on a digital Diebold ballot with the aid of a company rep.

Shirley Schmidt, 66, of Oshkosh, was, likewise, empowered.

Schmidt, who has been blind since birth, said she had to be “patient” with the Diebold machine’s audio delivery of ballot information via headphones. But she also said she liked the taste of independence. She cast her own ballot – however fake it was – for a first time, no human assistant required.

“I just hope people will use it,” Schmidt said. “Sometimes, they put stuff out for the disabled and the disabled won’t use it.”

Michael Huckaby wasn’t as sold.

The blind Madisonian and representative of the National Federation of the Blind of Wisconsin made a special trip to Oshkosh Wednesday to weigh in on the local HAVA touch-screen debate. He told the county board the audio-features of the Diebold product can produce a “Chipmunky” sound if a voter accidentally speeds up a handheld control of the human voice delivering ballot information to the voter.

“I don’t like the way it Chipmunks on you,” Huckaby said.

Diebold representative Steve Corey stressed that fears of computer hacking and paper-record malfunctions are, largely, just that.

Diebold’s machine does produce a paper roll authenticating a voter’s intent after a digital ballot is tapped out. Only after the paper record is printed and stored in a sealed canister is a voter allowed to “cast” his or her ballot digitally, Corey said.

Kennedy, too, assured the county board and audience that the State Elections Board did all it could to screen the HAVA equipment for bugs.

County board Supervisor Jef Hall, of Oshkosh, questioned why the county board was given no menu of HAVA-compliance options cleared by state elections officials. Hall also challenged both Corey and Kennedy on the security and effectiveness of the Diebold systems.

“Can I stand here and tell you this device will never jam – no,” Corey told Hall at one point.

A UWO computer science professor and the Oshkosh Area League of Women Voters were among other skeptical locals to testify against Diebold’s system."

The county and municipal clerks acted in good faith to recommend this purchase; however, LWV believes that purchase of Diebold touch screen voting machines would be a mistake,” League representative Kathy Propp said in a statement given to the county board.

Alex Hummel: (920) 426-6669 or ahummel@thenorthwestern.com.

June 20th Agenda is available

2006-06-16T07:35:00.000-05:00

It will be a full meeting. The agenda is here.

Some highlights:

RESOLUTION NO. 29-52006: Authorize Acceptance of a Grant of up to $288,000 for the Purchase of 50New Voting Machines for County and Municipal Use and Appropriate Funds to Capital Outlay Account in the County ClerkÂs 2006 Budget for that Purpose.
Submitted by:
JOHN SCHAIDLER, DISTRICT NO. 28 COUNTY BOARD SUPERVISOR
Comment: As most know, I am against using the Diebold machine, and believe we should not approve this until we have a real hearing in which we see all the options available.

RESOLUTION NO. 38-62006: Authorize Creation of Park View Health Center Construction Project Fund with Oshkosh Area Community FoundationSubmitted
by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE
COMMITTEE
Comment: I believe that we need an easy way to allow people to donate to Park View. This seems like a good idea to me.

RESOLUTION NO. 39-62006: Authorize Creation of Park View Health Center Endowment Fund
Submitted by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: Same as above - we need an easy way for people to donate to Park View

ORDINANCE NO. 40-62006: Amend Section 5.07(5)(d)(a) of the General Code of Winnebago County (Daily Jail Fee)
Submitted by: JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
Comment: I will have some real questions about this. My gut reaction is that we should not put people back on the street from jail with a debt burden. If we want to rehabilitate and not encourage re-offending, this is a bad idea. Also, if we truly want truth insentencingg, then make this part of the fine and resitution, not a back-door way of collecting more from the inmates. I am not 100% decided, but that is where I lean. I look forward to the discussion

RESOLUTION NO. 43-62006: Authorize Payment for Excess Committee Days (April 1, 2005 thru April 17, 2006)
Submitted by: PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: I am not quite sure what this is about. I will be asking around.

RESOLUTION NO. 49-62006: Authorize Appropriation of $164,000 to Resurface the Parking Lot for the Courthouse and Orrin King Building
Submitted by: FACILITIES & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment:preventivee maintenance is important to save money, plus the lot is in District 17, which I am very interested in keeping beautiful.

RESOLUTION NO. 50-62006: Authorize Appropriation of $262,000 to Replace the Roof at the Orrin King Building
Submitted by: FACILITIES & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: Same as above -preventivee maintenance is important to save money, plus the building is in District 17, which I am very interested in keeping beautiful.

RESOLUTION NO. 51-62006: Authorize a Transfer of $72,000 from the Highway Department Fund and $8,000 from the Planning Department Professional Services Fund to the County Road Maintenance Cost Center for an Interchange Study
Submitted by: HIGHWAY COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: We need a way to reduce traffic at the Breezewood interchange. I have heard from many people in the county who support this - as do I.

RESOLUTION NO. 52-62006: Authorize Acceptance of a Donation of $100,000 and Appropriation of Said Money for the Courtyard Garden and Paved Wheelchair Path at the New Park View Health Center Facility
Submitted by: PARK VIEW HEALTH CENTER COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: I am very proud of the involvement J. J. Keller has in the county. That said, because I work there, I will be abstaining from this vote.

RESOLUTION NO. 53-62006: Approve Industrial Development Board Loan Â Village of Winneconne
Submitted by: INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD
Comment: It is good to see the county helping develop small business. The fact that this is a loan and not a grant makes it even that much easier to support.

RESOLUTION NO. 54-62006: Authorize Appropriation of $400,000 for the First Phase of the Radio System Upgrade in the SheriffÂs Department
Submitted by: JUDICIARY & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE, PERSONNEL & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Comment: Public Safety is the most important job of the county government. This is the definition of a need versus a want.

I Fully Support This...

2006-06-16T07:33:00.000-05:00

Board to consider radio upgrades
By Jim Collar of The Northwestern
The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors Tuesday will consider whether to spend $400,000 for the first phase toward modernizing the county's emergency radio infrastructure.

While officials acknowledged the high price tag comes in a difficult budget environment, they argue the upgrades are becoming increasingly necessary for effective service.

According to the resolution, money sought Tuesday would primarily cover design and engineering costs of a project that would eventually allow emergency workers to hear radio transmissions on a countywide scale.

Sheriff Michael Brooks said that the federal government will require all jurisdictions to change to narrow band frequencies by 2011. The change will mean decreased distances for radio transmissions. In the current system, emergency responders already have some difficulty receiving communications through their radios depending on their location.

Right now, dispatchers can only send messages to a single tower. If a volunteer firefighter were out of range of the tower, he or she wouldn't get the message.

Read the rest here.

Not a Hearing, A Sales Presentation

2006-06-15T07:17:00.000-05:00

I am outraged by how last night's meeting went.

Originally, it was to be a joint IS & Judiciary meeting. The IS Committee (which I am a member) had directed County Clerk Sue Ertmer to invite as many vendors as would show up.

Then, when Chair Albrect decided that the meeting should be for the entire county board, he unilaterally decided to invite only the Diebold salesman.

Therefore, an opportunity for open government and honest debate was shut down. It was shut down by one person acting on his own.

We did not give fair service and representations to voters with disabilities in Winnebago County last night. We did not advance the debate on the issue. We did nothing to increase public confidence in our decisions. We failed, blew hot air and wasted time.

Unless we have a true hearing, in which we see all machines and have an open debate instead of a sales job, we will have failed the voters of Winnebago County.

League of Women Voters urges County Board to delay or reject touch-screen voting

2006-06-15T07:13:00.000-05:00

League of Women Voters urges County Board to delay or reject touch-screen voting

The Oshkosh Area League of Women Voters is asking the Winnebago County Board to delay a vote on or completely reject controversial touch-screen voting machines intended to comply with a federal law.

In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, League representative Kathy Propp echoed the national organization's stance -- that touch screen voting may have fundamental flaws. "We are not advocating in favor of any particular vendor," Propp's statement reads. "However, the League of Women Voters has serious questions about whether the Diebold touch screen voting machines meet our criteria of 'secure, accurate, recountable, accessible, with voter verifiable paper record.' The county and municipal clerks acted in good faith to recommend this purchase; however, LWV believes that purchase of Diebold touch screen voting machines would be a mistake."

The Oshkosh chapter urges the county board to put off or kill a resolution calling for a $288,000 purchase of 50 Diebold Election Systems touch-screen units, intended to provider greater ease and independence in voting for disabled, visually impaired and blind people.

UPDATED - VOTE-PAD - Board Meeting on Voting Machines June 14th 5:00PM - County Courthouse

2006-06-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

UPDATE - 6/12/06 - VOTE-PAD will be in attendance at the meeting.

I received the following confirmation today:

Dear Mr. Hall,

Yes, Dianna will be there, regardless of whether or not we are on the agenda. She will be delighted to answer your questions, even if we are only allowed the time during the public portion of the agenda. I hope some people there are actual people with disabilities who can take an experiential look at the Vote-PAD.

Thank
you!

Ellen TheisenPresident, Vote-PAD, Inc.
www.Vote-PAD.us

Why was she concerned about being on the agenda? Because of the following email I received from Chair Albrecht:

Hi Jef,
I couldn't reach you by phone, so I thought I'd e-mail you about your request to have Vote Pad demonstrate their equipment at Wednesday's meeting.

I'm not going to put them on the agenda to demonstrate, but they are welcometo speak during the public portion of the meeting.

See you Wednesday.

David

Once again, please contact Chairman Albrecht and urge him to allow ALL vendors to have equal opportunity and access to our meeting.

His contact is, once again:
dalbrecht@winnebago.wi.us
(920) 235-4959

-------------

The meeting to discuss the purchase of voting machines has been moved to the County Board chamber in the courthouse.

It will be a special orders meeting for the entire board.

As I get more info, I will update this post - I am forward dating it to the 15th to keep it on top - posts added until then will appear under this one.

UPDATE 6/1/06 - Here is the notice of the County Board Meeting.

It looks like the Northwestern is correct, and according to Chairman Albrecht's memo, we will be voting on this the 14th. As I pointed out below, this is against the wishes of the committees and the board.

UPDATE 5/31/06 - The Northwestern has more details of the meeting here.

If the article is proven correct, I 100% disagree with Chairman Albrecht's individual decision to invite Deibold only. The state has approved 4 different methods, to make an informed choice and best serve Winnebago County, we should see as many as possible.

If Chairman Albrecht does this, he will be going against the wishes of the IS Committee, one of the original sponsors of the program. We instructed the committee meeting to have multiple vendors here. It was also discussed to have multiple vendors in the Judiciary Committee meeting.

Also, the Judiciary and IS Committees set this meeting to be informational only. Mr. Albrecht seems to be going against the committee wishes as well for this. He is also going against the spirit of the board's discussion at the last meeting when we discussed sending this back to committees for fact-fining before the next regular board meeting.

I would urge anyone reading this to contact Chairman Albrecht and urge him to make this meeting what both committees and the board originally intended it to be, an informational session for both the board and the public.

Sunlight on these proceedings is needed.

Chairman Albrecht's email address is dalbrecht@winnebago.wi.us - his phone number is (920) 235-4959

California Elections: Diebold Machines Breakdown

2006-06-12T20:36:00.000-05:00

Machine problems caused other voters to be sent away without being able to vote in Stockton, Lodi, Tracy and Morada. Officials said the machines were touch-screen devices manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. Diebold has been under scrutiny by federal and state officials.

Oakland Ditches Diebold After Lawsuit

2006-06-12T19:53:00.000-05:00

Alameda County approves new voting system
By Chris Metinko
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

OAKLAND - Alameda County supervisors on Thursday approved plans for a new voting system, consisting mainly of paper ballots that will be scanned electronically and touch screens for use by disabled voters.

The board voted 3-2 to purchased the new system from Oakland-based Sequoia Voting Systems and hopes to have it in place for November's election. The new system would give the county 1,000 optical scanners and 1,000 touch-screens, enough to put one of each at every polling location.

The decision on the new system did not come easy. Dozens of county voters questioned the reliability of touch-screen voting machines.

"I don't understand why we have to get these expensive machines that are full of problems," said John Morton of Oakland who favored going back to a hand count. "I don't think waiting a day or two for results (of an election) is going to matter to most people."

The county has a spotty record with purchasing new voting systems.

In 2001, the county purchased 4,000 Diebold touch-screen machines for $12 million, but the move soon proved troublesome. The equipment had glitches, including once assigning votes to the wrong candidate.

Diebold eventually agreed in 2004 to pay the state and Alameda County $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it made false claims when it sold its equipment to the county. The settlement came after local and state officials found Diebold had installed uncertified software in the county's touch-screens and that its system was vulnerable to hackers.

Many who spoke Thursday favored a blended system made by Election Systems & Software -- the same company Contra Costa and Solano counties use for their elections.

Judiciary Committee Has Voting Machines on the Agenda Again

2006-06-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

On the 12th - 2 days before the board meeting, the Judiciary committee will discuss the Memorandum of Understanding for the voting machines.

Yet another good reason that the 14th meeting should have been a dual committee meeting as we requested....

Here is the agenda.

We will need to amend any resolution that comes before the board, most likely.

2006-06-04T22:54:00.000-05:00

From a Salt Lake Tribune Article:

"Most of the vendors use a process that is secure. You need authorized media, passwords and other security," Shamos says. "With Diebold's machines, you don't need any of that."

Northwestern: Don't Rush Into Diebold, Chairman Albrecht!

2006-06-01T07:45:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Northwestern, for this editorial

Editorial: County shouldn't rush to purchase voting machines

Winnebago County's rush to judgment to purchase touch screen voting machines is a disservice to citizens with grave concerns about the technology.

Winnebago County Board Chairman David Albrecht hasn't spelled out any compelling reason to push for quicker action in the face of controversy surrounding the touch-screen voting machines. Albrecht canceled a scheduled committee meeting on the subject in preference for moving the issue to the full county board, with a possible vote being taken on June 14. That effectively limits public debate on the topic.

There's no compelling reason for the county to rush the issue at the expense of a full public discussion.

Admittedly, the touch-screen voting machines have an appeal. They'll help the county comply with the Help America Vote Act that demands greater accessibility for people with disabilities. The Diebold touch-screen machines under review also connect technologically with paper-ballot scanning machines now in use. And we may end up buying Diebold touch-screen machines. But the county's credibility depends on avoiding the appearance of stiffling public debate to railroad a purchase.

Logic demands a public hearing to air concerns about how accurately a touch-screen machine truly transfers the decision made on the screen into a real vote.

Logic demands answers to questions about how touch-screen machines will perform in the event of a recount where voter intent must be verified.

Logic also demands that if supervisors are going to hear a sales pitch from one of the four state-approved vendors of HAVA-compliant machines that the county should hear the sales pitch from the three other vendors. Our county will commit a serious breach of business ethics that may land it in court with so much preference shown to Diebold.

Again, what should happen is to have a June 14 committee hearing to examine the available machines. Answer the concerns about touch-screen machines. Let people air other issues. Government isn't in the business to squlech public discussion. Remember, the decision made – even with state grant money paying for the purchase – will affect our county for many years.

Government integrity demands openness on all counts. Fast-tracking a purchase with long-term effects isn't right. Chairman Albrecht should see that his credibility and government's credibility depends on moving carefully when more questions are raised, instead of moving more quickly.

The Final Thought: County government should hold a hearing June 14 to investigate concerns about voting machines.

Once again, let Chairman Albrecht know you want him to slow down and make sure your questions are answered:

Chairman Albrecht's email address is dalbrecht@winnebago.wi.us - his phone number is (920) 235-4959

Court Commissioner Hiring in Progress:

2006-05-29T10:04:00.000-05:00

Court commissioner hiring process on track
By Jim Collar of The Northwestern
Concerns about potential backlogs and delays in the local court system appear to have been alleviated.

Winnebago County is now in the process of seeking out a new court commissioner, as a position will open once Karen Seifert takes the bench in Circuit Court Branch Four in August. Just weeks ago, the county judiciary was prohibited from advertising and filling the job opening until the County Board of Supervisors tackled the 2007 budget.

Judges feared the delay would significantly slow access to the courts given an already understaffed courthouse.

They now hope to hire in June.

Judge Scott Woldt said that if all goes to plan, a new court commissioner should be able to step in once Seifert puts on her black robe. Time remains of the essence, as any private attorney hired for the position would have to close his or her practice.

"That's why we started now," Woldt said.

Court commissioners are hired by the county to handle certain hearings and duties including family court, juvenile hearings, bond hearings and preliminary hearings. They don't have the full authority of judges, who are employees of the state.

County Executive Mark Harris initially chose against filling the vacant position until the county could assess all of its needs in what is expected to be a painful 2007 budget process.

While the county board couldn't prematurely designate funds for the position next year, supervisors did vote this month to seek a new commissioner and support the position for next year.

Woldt said the vote of confidence should allow the county to find qualified candidates. Harris concurred.

"We got what we needed and that was a commitment from the board," Harris said.

Dealing with Deibold flaws...

2006-05-29T09:30:00.000-05:00

From Technology Marketing:

Hench, like dozens of other election officials who will be overseeing the use of Diebold machines, received a letter earlier this month informing her that the company had identified a potentially devastating flaw, which could let someone with access to the machine insert a virus into the system.

"It's like holding a loaded gun to your head and saying, 'Well, unless you pull the trigger there's not much risk,' " said David Dill, a Stanford computer science professor who has studied the Diebold machines. Computer experts are not reporting the specifics of the flaw, not wanting to tip off potential hackers on how to corrupt an election.

Some recent coverage of electronic voting:

2006-05-25T12:05:00.000-05:00

Newsweek has a story here:

Will Your Vote Count in 2006?
'When you're using a paperless voting system, there is no security,' says Stanford's David Dill.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the voting booth, here comes more disturbing news about the trustworthiness of electronic touchscreen ballot machines. Earlier this month a report by Finnish security expert Harri Hursti analyzed Diebold voting machines for an organization called Black Box Voting. Hursti found unheralded vulnerabilities in the machines that are currently entrusted to faithfully record the votes of millions of Americans.

How bad are the problems? Experts are calling them the most serious voting-machine flaws ever documented. Basically the trouble stems from the ease with which the machine's software can be altered. It requires only a few minutes of pre-election access to a Diebold machine to open the machine and insert a PC card that, if it contained malicious code, could reprogram the machine to give control to the violator. The machine could go dead on Election Day or throw votes to the wrong candidate. Worse, it's even possible for such ballot-tampering software to trick authorized technicians into thinking that everything is working fine, an illusion you couldn't pull off with pre-electronic systems. "If Diebold had set out to build a system as insecure as they possibly could, this would be it," says Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer-science professor and elections-security expert.

It continues to point out that a paper-trail is needed. That is why Diebold added the recipt printer to the side of the machine. However, as seen in recent use in Pennsylvania, this printer becomes easily jammed, therefore removing the paper trail.

Appleton Post-Crescent has a story here:

New voting machines cast doubt
Systems' security worries counties, municipalities

When they go to the polls in September, disabled adults — no matter what their handicap — will be able to vote independently on new machines mandated by the Help America Vote Act.

But there is much disagreement among counties, municipalities and watchdog organizations about the security and reliability of the votes they will cast.

The state Elections Board has certified four voting systems for use in Wisconsin, starting with the September partisan primary. Using federal money, Calumet County towns and municipalities have opted for machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems. Waupaca and Outagamie county communities, with the exception of Appleton, are buying Sequoia Voting Systems machines.

Controversy has dogged both the Diebold and Sequoia systems.

Purported security defects with the Diebold machines worried the Winnebago County Board so much it voted last week to reject a $294,000 grant for their purchase. With some additional precautions, however, the state Elections Board says Diebold is secure, and it is the only machine compatible with existing equipment in Calumet and Winnebago county communities.

The only options are to buy the Diebold machines or scrap the counties' existing equipment at a cost thought to be so high no one has dared calculate it.

I am going to interrupt the story here - this is simply not true - we do not have to scrap the entire system if we go with a different type of handicap-accessible machine. The worst case is that we would have 2 totals from each location rather than one. One from the regular machines and one from the accesible machine.

"We've spent a great deal of money and the equipment we have has been proved over and over in recounts," Winnebago County Deputy Clerk Pat Rabe said. "We just had a huge school board recount in the city of Oshkosh and the results are the same."

Likewise, Calumet County Clerk Beth Hauser says Diebold is the only choice that makes practical or financial sense, and she has faith the municipal clerks will follow the state's security recommendations.

Meanwhile, problems with new Sequoia equipment delayed the results of a spring election in Cook County, Ill., for about two weeks. Kristofer Frederick, elections director for the state, looked into Chicago's problems and concluded most involved
administration and coordination. The Elections Board is developing general recommendations for running elections with the new equipment.

Outagamie County Clerk Nancy Christensen says the Sequoia vendor told her many Cook County poll workers didn't have any training.

I am going to stop the article here as well. 2 points - first is that the reason that the school board recount went so well is that we had ballots to count. If there is a printer error, there will be no voter-verified trail to prove voter intent.

2nd - the story quotes "the Sequoia vendor" as providing the information that the machine did not fail, it was the training. This is hardly a reliable source. He (or she) is not an impartial paprty in this. We have seen time and time again in the research of this that the Diebold company reps will say yht sysyems are fixed, yet another problem pops up again and again.

And the most troubling part:

The Diebold machine will print a paper record in the event of a recount. The Sequoia system records voters' choices on the touch screen and a small printer simultaneously. The elector is asked to verify that the two match, then confirm that the choices are accurate. After each vote, the paper advances so that subsequent voters can't see their predecessor's picks. The printed record replaces the ballot in the event of a recount.

The record needs to be printed immediately when the voter casts the vote, and in a secure way that can be saved for recounts and the public record. Anything else is not proper.

Only the ESS machines, which Appleton has chosen, use a ballot, a difference clerk Appleton City Clerk Cindi Hesse says is subtle but important.

"(Without a ballot) there is no actual ability to go over to review what a voter actually did," Hesse said. "The Common Council has given me the directive that a paper ballot in the case of a recount is a very valuable tool."

Amen for common sense - in Appleton.

Milwaukee Jounal Covers Election Problems

2006-05-22T08:23:00.000-05:00

Diebold sent a letter to machine owners stating that it "has determined there is a theoretical security issue" and that the "alleged vulnerability could potentially allow unauthorized software to be loaded onto the system."
The probability that unauthorized software could affect an election is considered "low," the letter states, but Bear said Diebold is working on a fix.
Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer science professor, notes in a paper written with a colleague that Diebold security issues are "easily the most serious voting machine flaws we have seen to date."
"Where possible, precincts planning on using these machines should consider making paper backup systems available to prepare for the possibility of widespread failures on election day," he said.

They also cover Winnebago County specificly - click here for the full story.

101 things to do this summer in or around the Fox Valley

2006-05-22T08:16:00.000-05:00

Here it is! Enjoy!

Voting Machines Added to Legislative Committee Agenda

2006-05-19T07:28:00.000-05:00

Here is the agenda. Make it if you can.

There are some supervisors working on a joint Judiciary/Information Systems meeting to discuss this. We are requesting an evening meeting at a location where we can accomodate a crowd.

Please let the chairs of these committees know you support this public meeting/forum:

Judiciary and Public Safety Committee:
Harvey J. Rengstorf
6716 Wentzel Shores Road
Winneconne, WI 54986-9571
(920) 582-4865

Information Systems Committee:
Patrick Brennand (click on his name to send him and email)
251 Ripple Avenue
Oshkosh, WI 54902-8830
(920) 426-5351

Northwestern: County Board Correct to Gather More Info on Voting Machines

2006-05-19T07:25:00.000-05:00

I both agree and disagree with individual points made in the article, however, the opening is 100% correct:

Given the questions about Diebold touch-screen voting machines, the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors was right Tuesday to reject accepting a grant for the machines and schedule further hearings on the matter.

The objective of the board's Judiciary Committee over the coming weeks should be to replace rumor and innuendo with information and facts that the board can use to ultimately decide to accept or reject state funding for the machines.

Paper Malfuntion in Diebold Machines

2006-05-19T06:52:00.000-05:00

An alert put out on May 16th on the Philedelphia Daily News - this focuses into the problems with the paper voter tape in the Diebold machines:

BREAKING NEWS: 100 voting machines broken

More than 100 voting machines are reported to be broken across the city, the Daily News has learned.

Apparently, the machines were broken when polls opened this morning -- they keep spitting out the paper tape that keeps the tally of the vote. It is the largest breakdown since we started using the new voting machines.

Diebold (manufacturer of the voting machines in question) faces informal SEC inquiry

2006-05-19T06:45:00.000-05:00

Diebold faces informal SEC inquiry
Tue May 9, 2006 5:29 PM ET

NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters) - Diebold Inc. one of the world's largest makers of automated teller and electronic voting machines, on Tuesday said staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have begun an informal inquiry into how the company recognizes revenue.

North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold said it learned recently about the SEC inquiry and is cooperating. The company disclosed the inquiry in its quarterly report filed with the agency.

A Diebold spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment. SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment.

Diebold has struggled with high manufacturing costs and lower demand in North America for its ATMs. It is incurring some restructuring charges this year as it tries to cut costs and improve profitability.

More From the Northwestern on Diebold Touch Screens

2006-05-18T08:07:00.000-05:00

I think that this is the key line of the story:

County clerks say that any system other than the Diebold touch-screen voting machine wouldn't be compatible with county equipment, would require manual vote tallies from each polling place and would thereby open the door to potentially significant human error.

Here is the issue. If this is a system for handicap voters (a minority of all voters) then I believe it would be OK to hand count those ballots, if this is the only way we can make sure we are using a system that will assure that the vote is cast and counted.

Human error can be corrected if the documentation (a reliable paper ballot to recount) is avalable. The problem with this machine is that it risks machine error - it loses votes - they cannot be recounted.

If there are going to be problems either way, lets select a system that will allow errors to be checked, not lost.

Some Info on the Diebold Machines:

2006-05-17T23:31:00.000-05:00

The State of Wisconsin Approval Process - key to this is the following part of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA from here on out):

Section 301(3) of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires that every voting system used in a federal election:
be accessible for individuals with disabilites, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provided the same for accesss and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters....through the use of at least one direct recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilites at each polling place.

That is where the reqirement that we get some kind of 'touch screen system'.

Because we in Winnebago County use the Diebold Systen now, the product that was looked at was the Diebold TSX DRE.

This has been looked at by many different agencies. The one I quoted in yesterday's debate was the California Secretary of State (16 page report).

Some of the items I pointed out were:

From the data we estimate the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) of these machines to be approximately 15 hours under the conditionsexperienced during volume testing. It is unclear what failure rate this might imply for a real election.

We found the many software failures potentially more troubling than the paper jams. It seems likely that further changes to the AccuVote TSx software will be required. Under one possible interpretation of the standards, the failure rate observed during these tests was more than 10 times higher than permitted by federal standards (which require a 163-hour MTBF). The failure to detect this fact during the ITA’s testing process appears to be due to serious defects in the testing methodology specified by federal standards. One lesson of this analysis is that the testing performed during the federal qualification process is apparently inadequate to ensure that voting machines will be reliable enough for use in elections.
...

We found that there were 34 failures, spread across 29 distinct machines. We classified each failure into one of two categories: (a) printer jams, and (b) software failures, where the touchscreen machine crashed, froze, hung, or reported an unrecoverable error condition. The 34 failures broke down into 14 printer jams and 20 software failures, with 12 machines experiencing at least one printer jam (2 machines suffered from 2 printer jams) and 18 machines experiencing at least one software failure (2 machines encountered 2 software failures). One machine experienced both a printer jam and a software failure.
...

During a typical election, the polls are open for 13 hours. If the conditions during a real election were comparable to the conditions during the volume test, then we could use the MTBF to estimate the number of failures likely to be observed during an election. For instance, if we assume that we can recover from printer jams, but machines are taken out of service upon any software failures, then such calculations would suggest that almost 40% of machines would experience a software failure and need to be taken out of service, leaving only 60% of machines in working order by the close of polls.
...

Under these assumptions, some polling places would be left without any working machine by the end of the day. Obviously when the failure rate is this high, recovery from failures is a critical issue.
...
In general, we are concerned that the prevalence of software failures during the
June 20th test may indicate software quality problems in the TSx. It is possible that these failures are a sign of a large number of other latent software defects. As far as we know, there has never been another volume test of the TSx that tests the machine under realistic conditions, and generally at best spotty records kept of any failures that may occur during elections, so there is no way to know the extent or magnitude of the software quality problem.
...
Another vexing problem with recovering from software failures is that there is no clear, general way for a poll worker to determine whether the voter’s vote was recorded before the failure. We are very concerned that many of the software failures encountered in the June 20th test violate this crucial requirement. Some of the failures led to a crash after a ballot had been cast; some led to a crash before the voter had begun voting; yet the screens displayed after the crash gave no obvious way to distinguish between these two situations. What can a poll worker do when they are called over after such a failure?
...
Recovering from printer jams generally involves opening up the printer unit and manipulating the paper tape. This is a sensitive operation. It is analogous to opening up a paper ballot box in the middle of an election and inspecting and manipulating the ballots contained therein. If not performed properly, this could endanger vote integrity and privacy.

I will have more as I have time. But this is the gist of what I went over last night.

Northwestern Coverage of the Diebold Debate

2006-05-17T21:48:00.000-05:00

Winnebago County rejects grant for voting machines
Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
OSHKOSH — The Winnebago County Board narrowly rejected a proposal to accept $294,000 in grant funding for touch-screen voting machines based on concerns regarding the integrity of the system.

The board Tuesday fell two votes short of the necessary 26 votes required to accept the funding for the purchase of 49 Diebold touch-screen machines.

Federal law will require each polling place to have a machine accessible to the handicapped by September.

While the law doesn't specify the type of machine, Winnebago County Deputy Clerk Pat Rabe said the Diebold model is the only one allowable in Wisconsin that's compatible with county voting systems.

"This is not optional," she said.

Supervisors Bill Wingren and Jef Hall came out strongly against the purchase of the Diebold machines based on issues including reported high failure rates and the potential that the machines could be hacked.

"It's not that electronic voting overall is bad," Hall said. "But this is a bad system."

The board briefly discussed reconsideration of the measure.

Instead, Supv. Harvey Rengstorf agreed to bring a similar resolution up for further
discussion with the county's judiciary committee to learn more about the system and gather additional public input. If passed, that resolution could come back to the full board.

Another step on the Hwy G/41 Interchange

2006-05-17T20:58:00.000-05:00

Highway panel backs 41 interchange study
By Alex Hummel of The Northwestern
It would be years before drivers see the benefits, but Winnebago County's $72,800 for a study pinpointing a new U.S. Highway 41 interchange between Oshkosh and Neenah brings the project closer to reality.

The Winnebago County Highway Committee agreed unanimously Tuesday morning to use $72,800 from the sale of a Winchester highway garage property to match Neenah's funding for a key study to determine the need for and impact of a huge interchange at or near County Trunk G.

Highway and local government officials cite the need for a new U.S. 41 interchange between those at State Highway 76 and Breezewood Lane-Bell Street
because of traffic backups and the need to improve access to Neenah's southern industrial park.

Without the study, the project goes nowhere, county officials have stressed.

Tonight's Meeting

2006-05-16T22:31:00.000-05:00

We voted to keep the Court Commissioner (advisory only) and voted down the Diebold machines.

Good meeting overall.

I will have a complete recap tomorrow.

Geek Alert - Here ia a great article on a way Winnebago County saves money and gives better service:

2006-05-15T21:53:00.000-05:00

We saw a presentation on FoxComm at the last board meeting.

Here is a long, geeky article on it.

Harris on the Proposed 41/G Interchange

2006-05-15T16:53:00.000-05:00

Here is the story from today's Northwestern.

A new U.S. Highway 41 interchange between Oshkosh and Neenah deserves serious study and an $80,000 dose of county support given its potential to bolster growth and jobs and untangle traffic jams, County Executive Mark Harris said.

Harris said he is "very much pushing" for the county to kick in $80,000 for such a study to match $80,000 the city of Neenah has already approved for it. For now, the county and Neenah are targeting County Trunk G as the location for what is estimated to be a $17 to $18 million interchange.

"The issue is that it's going to be harder and harder to get federal and state money for projects, and if the opportunity comes up and we don't have a study in hand that explains where the interchange should be and it's need, we'll miss out," Harris said. "If we have any hope of getting an additional exit along that stretch of 41, we need to have a study in hand."

Fond du Lac County Exec Proposes Closing County Nursing Home

2006-05-10T11:41:00.000-05:00

In a memo sent to Fond du Lac County Supervisors, the County Executive is proposing a shut-down of the nursing home.

See below for the memo, click here to see the evaluation of the dedicated staff.

Turn-Over Rate - Rolling Medows - FDL County Avg - WI Avg
Full-time Nurses (RNs) - 100% - 81% - 81%
Part-time Nurses (RNs) - 89% - 79% - 76%
Full-time Nurses (LPNs) - 100% - 71% - 79%
Part-time Nurses (LPNs) - 100% - 72% - 73%
Full-time Nurse Aides - 100% - 91% - 76%
Part-time Nurse Aides - 80% - 64% - 65%

As you can see, they provide a better continuity of care than private homes in FDL County and homes statewide.

TO: Fond du Lac County Board of Supervisors
FROM: Allen Buechel, County Executive
DATE: May 8, 2006

RE: ROLLING MEADOWS NURSING & REHABILITATION CENTER

This is to inform you that on Tuesday, May 9, at 2:00 PM I will notify the staff and residents at Rolling Meadows Nursing & Rehabilitation Center that I am recommending that the facility be closed in September 2006. It is my intent to have the recommendation on the agenda to the full County Board at the May 16 session, following a review of the recommendation by the Facilities & Information Technology Committee on May 10 at 4:30 PM.

This is a difficult decision for all of us, and I know that it will be a difficult vote for you on May 16. I am making this recommendation after much deliberation and study. I have attempted to avoid doing so until now; however, it is a decision that must be made.

You may be contacted by family members of residents and/or employees about the closing. Please review the document that I had sent you or you may refer the call to me at 929-3155. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

FDL County Supervisor Todd Schmitz is asking people to ask questions before this happens, below is his memo. I think the last question is the most important (so I bolded it):

Hello, Please contact your FDL County Supervisor and ask for public hearings and a real debate on weather we should cut more FDL County human services by closing Rolling Meadows (See County Exec Memo below). If you can please attend the Facilities and Technology Meeting scheduled for 4:30 today (it may be the only chance for the public to speak).

Legitimate questions must be answered before any supervisor votes: Has the lack of upkeep at Rolling Meadows hastened the decline in population and fostered a shift to more aesthetically pleasing but lesser skilled nursing, private enterprises? Are private care providers held to the same standards of care as public providers? Who oversees private providers and what are families' options for dealing with poor quality care that might be injurious or deadly? What are the turnover rates in the private sector for employees who provide the most intimate of care? Do low pay and poor benefits packages diminish the quality of care in the private sector? Who will be responsible for our elderly, should the private sector decide their facilities are not profitable enough?

May 16th Agenda Is Up

2006-05-09T23:59:00.000-05:00

Click here.

Salaries will probably be the most controversial.

I do not agree with some members who may try to not increase only one positions's salary. It is unfair to punish one person you disagree with in this method. In my opinion, it is a politically elected position - if you disagree with the performance, run someone against and take the position. By cutting one position you are punishing future people for the current person's percieved failings. You really need to keep personalities out of this. In my opinion, it is all or nothing for these positions.

Whether to appoint/hire a new Court Commissioner may have discussion as well. My initial thoughts on this are here. I spoke with Karen Seifert about this last night, and still am predisposed to filling this position. It is a public safety issue for me. That is the last place you cut. I will try to get the study/letter/lobbying piece I recieved from the Winnebago County judges on this posted before the discussion. It was pretty enlightening.

I am going to find out more about the voting machines before the meeting and, if needed, will add an amendment to require a paper record ability for any machine purchased.

I would like to see the specifics of the Castle-Pierce contract and bid process as well.

Tour Schedule

2006-05-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

The itinerary to the annual tour for County Board Members is out here.

This should be fun and informative. Well worth the vacation day from work.

I'd Like to See This Happen

2006-05-07T18:37:00.000-05:00

The interchange (U.S. 41-County G) also is seen as a way to improve traffic flow on U.S. 41. It would provide another exit and entrance point along a four-lane span between the Jackson Street and Breezewood Lane and Bell Street interchanges that often is tied up by accidents, rush hours and summer festivals and events.

However, there are many questions to be answered. I believe we really do need another interchange between Neenah and Oshkosh.

County Court Commissioner

2006-05-04T08:16:00.000-05:00

Here is an article about the open Court Commissioner position.

I see Mark Harris' line on keeping the position open to save money, however everyone I speak to in the courts says they are overworked. I tend to believe them.

I think if we are to cut, this would not be a good place to do it.

I have not seen the info that came to the Judiciary Committe yet, and need to look into this farther, but my gut tells me it is needed - and should have been in the budget for the entire year.

As I get more info, I will share it...

Also, sorry I do not yet have the notes from the May 2nd meeting posted yet. I have been swamped straight through. They should be up by Friday. It was mostly an informational meeting.

Agenda for May 2nd Meeting

2006-05-01T07:59:00.000-05:00

The Agenda is here.

One of the things we are going to go over is:

Report on “Winnebago County Board of Supervisors Ethics Handbook” and open meetings law – John Bodnar, Winnebago County Corporation Counsel

I am going to have a few questions on this. I don't quite understand when you can or cannot discuss board business with people that are board members.

I am also looking forward to:

Report on Medicare Prescription Drug Program – Mark Weisensel, Winnebago County Supervisor of Elderly Services and Candace Corbett, Winnebago County Elderly Benefit Specialist

I have a lot of time and effort put in on this issue over the last few years. Ms. Corbett is an expert on the subject - I am interested in hearing from her.

April 25, 2006 Meeting Notes - General Meeting

2006-04-25T23:23:00.000-05:00

The meeting started off with the regular items; Roll Call, Pledge of Allegiance and Invocation.

Then it was time to adopt the agenda. I made a motion to amend the agenda to include a separate vote on the new committee members. According to the rules adopted last week:

3.10 - The Board, as the first order of business at the recessed meeting of the Organization Meeting shall approve all committee members by a majority vote of those present.

So, we had to approve the members of committees at this meeting. However, the vote to approve the members of the committees was not part of the published agenda, however:

8.7 - All items not appearing on the written Agenda or not delivered with the Agenda shall be out of order and shall not be considered by the Board at the particular meeting.

So, we are stuck with 2 rules that contradict one another. The first that we need to approve committees, the second that we cannot vote on approval because it is not an agenda item. We do have a 'catch all' in the rules for this, it is:

13.1 - Any of the Rules may be suspended by two-thirds vote of the members present, except Rules Number 3.8, 7.5, 11.0-11.5, 12.7, 13.1 which are not suspendable.

Therefore, to make sure all the ducks are in a row, we should have suspended the rules for the agenda and put the vote on the agenda. Chairman Abrecht indicated that the vote for the approval of the Committee on Committees' recommendation on membership would come out under his County Board Chairman's Report. Nowhere in the rules does it say that you can bring forward an item for voting during committee or chair reports.

If so, what is the point of resolutions? What is the point of committee work? The chair of any committee could bring any resolution to a vote, just by putting it into their report. The chair would have the power and right to bring any vote before the board.

My point is that rules matter. Process matters. It is through the process and rules that we make sure that the board business is done in a fair, open and honest matter. I do not believe that happened tonight.

I wanted to start a discussion on committee assignment. I believe the process was not open enough. I asked Chairman Albrecht to schedule the Committee on Committees meeting at a time that I could attend. It was not. I understand, I have to work during the day, and the members of the committee do not. However, I believe the meeting of the committee that decides the make-up of the board for the next 2 years should be as open as possible, not just for me, but for the rest of the supervisors, the general public and the media.

I also requested the minutes of the meeting. I asked them to be emailed to me in a timeframe that would make it possible to review before the meeting. I hoped that they would include some detail on the 'whys' of selection and appointment. The minutes were on our desks as we showed up for the meeting tonight. (Here they are: page 1 & page 2). They are pretty vague about the 'whys' of selection. This is the entire statement:

After discussions and comments, the committee made the following appointments:

This is, in my opinion, unacceptable. If you look at committee assignments, some supervisors received appointments to 4 committees, some received appointments to just one, and in at least one case a supervisor received no committee appointment. I think that the members of the board, as well as the citizens of Winnebago County deserve to know why elected officials are appointed.

Also, according to the rules:

5.4 The Chair shall act as ex officio member of all committees of the county board and, as ex officio committee member, shall have the power to vote in such committee only in the absence of one or more committee members. The Chair may delegate this power to the Vice-Chair.

The Chair is, by rules, a member of the Personnel and Finance Committee as well as the Legislative Committee. I take the above to mean that Chairman Albrecht is then a member of all other committees and cannot be appointed, as the Committee on Committes did appoint him to the Highway Committee.

The reason for rules and minutes is so that questions like this will not lead people to think that favoritism or 'old-boys network' thinking went on. This is why I tried to change the agenda. I wanted to make sure we were operating within the rules, as well as making sure that the Committee on Committees was accountable for their decisions. Unfortunately, my motion was talked down by Chairman Albrecht.

I am neither comfortable with the results of the committee appointments or the process in which they were made. If we do not keep to our own rules and make sure that the process is as open as possible, the stories in the local papers and other media about the board will not get any better.

18.3 - Any decision of any Standing Committee may be appealed to the Board by any Supervisor at any regular or special Board meeting.

I was going to use this rule to discuss the appointments, however it went pretty quick and I was not called on before the board. I will be bringing my concerns about the rules to the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee for a rules change to clarify this process in the future.

As for the resolutions we voted on during the evening, I have these comments:

County Highway FF - I believe that we need to fix dangerous intersections. It seemed to me that the people that were mentioned all thought that the intersection was dangerous, they were just not willing to pay the money. I used to check fields for Green Giant in college. I drove 200 miles a day on country roads, I understand the danger of these roads. That is why I supported this spending.

Airport Lease - Yes, $550 a year is very inexpensive for renting this land. I was going to ask the question Supervisor Weber did - Is this normal? Turns out that it is. Also, if you read the lease, the hangar that will be built on this land will become the property of Winnebago County at the end of the lease. That is why I supported this.

TRACS - I think this system sounds exciting. It saves time by not requiring multiple data entry and form forms to be filled out. It will save money in efficiency, and protect our officers by allowing them off the side of the road quicker.

Soliciting - I can see the point of wanting to keep the board members on the same page, however as I said at the meeting - we represent our constituents not the interests of the committees. We need to have the flexibility to research, and hopefully our board members will be mature enough not to abuse.

As always, please contact me at any time with questions or suggestions.

April 25, 2006 Meeting Notes - New Supervisor Orientation

2006-04-25T22:47:00.000-05:00

The meeting started out with a training for new County Board members. In case anyone is curious about how we get paid (it isn't much), we get $40 for any board, committee or other meeting under 4 hours long. For a meeting that goes over 4 hours or a meeting of the entire board, we get $60. The most that we can receive for any day is $60. So, if you have multiple meetings on the same day, you cannot get more pay.

We can claim mileage for travel to meetings at $.445 per mile. If we are traveling for county board business, we can get reimbursement for meals and hotels. Odd rule - we can only tip 15% and be reimbursed, if we tip more, we will not get the difference. Winnebago County will not reimburse for alcohol, so if you have a glass of wine with dinner, you can get dinner reimbursed, but not wine.

We are allowed to sign up for Winnebago County's group health and dental insurance plan, but we are to pay the full amount. We are also allowed to invest county board pay in the county's investment plan.

Payday is the 15th for board pay and can be direct deposited, expense reimbursement is by check only and is separate.

Committee Assignments - Update with Chairs/Vice/Secretaries

2006-04-23T23:49:00.001-05:00

They came out in a document I recieved yesterday. The Committee on Committees met Thursday at 10:am, I could not attend because I was at work. I will be requesting the minutes.

Sorted by Committee:
Aviation
Arlene Schmuhl - Sec
Kathy Lennon - Chair
Kenneth Anderson
Shiloh Ramos
Stan Kline - Vice

Committees
Bernard Egan
David Albrecht - Chair
Donald Greisbach
Jeanette Diakoff
John Schaidler

Emergency Management
Bill Wingren - Vice
Donald Greisbach - Chair
Harvey Rengsdorf
Patrick O'Brien
Thomas Ellis - Sec

Facilities and Property
Bernard Egan - Chair
Bill Wingren
Chuck Farrey - Sec
Donald Greisbach - Vice
James Koziczkowski

Highway
Bernard Egan - Vice
David Albrecht
Joanne Sievert - Sec
Kenneth Robl - Chair
Robert Warnke

Information Systems
Alfred Jacobson
Bill Pollnow - Sec
Jef Hall - Vice
John Schaidler
Patrick Brennand - Chair

Judicial & Public Safety
Bill Wingren - Sec
Donald Greisbach - Vice
Harvey Rengstorf - Chair
Patrick O'Brien
Thomas Ellis

Land Conservation
Chuck Farrey - Vice
Donna Lohry - Sec
Joseph Maehl
Nancy Barker - Chair
Robert Warnke

Parks & Recreation
Arlene Schmuhl - Sec
James Lauson - Chair
Jerold Finch
Joe Hotynski
Steven Arne - Vice

Parkview
Alfred Jacobson - Sec
Bill Wingren
Forrest Weber
Steve Arne - Chair
Thomas Widener - Vice

Personnel & Finance
David Albrecht
Jeanette Diakoff - Sec
Joe Hotynski - Vice
John Schaidler
Stan Kline - Chair

Planning & Zoning
Claud Thompson - Vice
Jeanette Diakoff
Joanne Sievert
John Schaidler - Chair
Patrick Brennand - Sec

Scholarship
Ben Farrell - Sec
Forrest Weber - Vice
Jerry Finch - Chair
Paul Eisen
Susan Locke

University of Wisconsin Extension
Barb Spanbauer - Sec
Joseph Maehl - Chair
Nancy Barker - Vice
Paul Eisen
Susan Locke

And sorted by Supervisor:
Alfred Jacobson
Information Systems
Parkview

Arlene Schmuhl
Aviation
Parks & Recreation

Barb Spanbauer
University of Wisconsin Education, Extension & Agriculture

Ben Farrell
Scholarship

Bernard Egan
Committees
Facilities and Property
Highway

Bill Pollnow
Information Systems

Bill Wingren
Emergency Management
Facilities and Property
Judicial & Public Safety
Parkview

Chuck Farrey
Facilities and Property
Land Conservation

Claud Thompson
Planning & Zoning

David Albrecht
Committees
Highway
Personnel & Finance

Donald Greisbach
Committees
Emergency Management
Facilities and Property
Judicial & Public Safety

Donna Lohry
Land Conservation

Forrest Weber
Parkview
Scholarship

Harvey Rengsdorf
Emergency Management
Judicial & Public Safety

James Koziczkowski
Facilities and Property

James Lauson
Parks & Recreation

Jeanette Diakoff
Committees
Personnel & Finance
Planning & Zoning

Jef Hall
Information Systems

Jerold Finch
Parks & Recreation
Scholarship

Joanne Sievert
Highway
Planning & Zoning

Joe Hotynski
Parks & Recreation
Personnel & Finance

John Schaidler
Committees
Information Systems
Personnel & Finance
Planning & Zoning

Joseph Maehl
Land Conservation
University of Wisconsin Education, Extension & Agriculture

Kathy Lennon
Aviation

Kenneth Anderson
Aviation

Kenneth Robl
Highway

Nancy Barker
Land Conservation
University of Wisconsin Education, Extension & Agriculture

Patrick Brennand
Information Systems
Planning & Zoning

Patrick O'Brien
Emergency Management
Judicial & Public Safety

Paul Eisen
Scholarship
University of Wisconsin Education, Extension & Agriculture

Robert Warnke
Highway
Land Conservation

Shiloh Ramos
Aviation

Stan Kline
Aviation
Personnel & Finance

Steve Arne
Parkview
Parks & Recreation

Susan Locke
Scholarship
University of Wisconsin Education, Extension & Agriculture

Thomas Ellis
Emergency Management
Judicial & Public Safety

Thomas Widener
Parkview

New Agenda is Up

2006-04-23T23:47:00.000-05:00

Right here

Meeting Notes - 4/18/06

2006-04-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

My first meeting as a County Board Supervisor was last night. The highlight was definitely taking the oath of office and receiving the 'Certification of Election' (suitable for framing).

We elected Supervisor Dave Albrecht to another term as chair and Supervisor John Schaidler to Vice-Chair (also a re-election). There were no challengers and Supervisor Albrecht won by 37-0-1 and Supervisor Schaidler 38-0.

Next was a discussion of the rules under which we will operate for the next 2 years. These were submitted by Supervisor Rengstorf.

The main discussion centered around a rule that vacancies to the board must be appointed by the chair within 60 days. Because there are often no applications within this time period, there was a proposal to change the wording to 'as soon as possible.'

I spoke out against this wording. While I saw the point, I believe a time interval is a key element. I wanted wording similar to 'within 60 days if there is an applicant, or as soon as there is an applicant thereafter.'

The reason I believe that a time element in necessary is, for some budget matters, an empty seat is a 'nay' vote. Therefore, the chair could refuse to appoint someone to a position until after a vote to get that extra 'nay'.

In essence, the chair would have the power to cast multiple votes - his own as well as the no votes that would come from refusing to appoint.

It is on that principle that I feel a time limit is necessary.

The rule stood as written, because logically you cannot appoint without an applicant, so 60 days or as soon as an applicant is found after that is the same as the current wording.

After the rules were approved, the Chair appointed the Committee on Committees. These are the supervisors who work on appointing committee members. I will update this post with the committee members, but my notes are in my car and I do not want to get it wrong.

After adjournment, I requested that Chair Albrecht let me know when the Committee on Committees will meet, as I would like to attend (one of the rules we had just approved is that any Supervisor may attend any committee meeting) and learn more about the process.

This was followed by coffee, milk and cake to welcome the new supervisors. Good conversations followed!

I agree with the Northwestern here...

2006-04-18T07:40:00.000-05:00

I hope not to have difficulty getting a committee assignment. I am lucky enough to have flex-time with work to be able to work with my schedule.

by making a concession to evening or later afternoon committee meetings, the county may attract civic- minded residents who would be able to run for a supervisory seat. County supervisors could build a lot of credibility for government at 38 seats now by shifting their meeting times to become more accessible to working men and women.

I agree with that statement, however there are other things to think about. Are there committee members that cannot drive at night to be there? Where is the best place to hold the meeting?

Hopefully, the board members will look at a balance of member's and the public's needs when assigning members and scheduling meetings.

Hopefully they do not say that the time of the meeting should dictate the members.

I am looking forward to tonight's meeting. I have found board members to be responsive and flexible. I am excited to join them.

Agenda for the April 18th, 2006 Winnebago County Board Meeting

2006-04-16T22:02:00.000-05:00

Here is the agenda page - I will be updating this everytime we get a new pack...

Welcome

2006-04-16T20:22:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the Winnebago 17 Blog!

Here is where I will post info about the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors, opinions and agenda's. Feel free to contact me anytime and check out winnebago17.org for more information.

I will post as often as needed. Comments are encouraged.