HomeMy WebLinkAboutExecutive Committee - Minutes - 9/17/2002 31
Executive Committee Minutes
September 17, 2002, County Board Room
Members Present: Kenneth Jardine, Brett Rondeau, Dee Kittleson, Marco Bichanich
Members Excused: Harold Maki, John Blahnik
Others Present: Tom Gordon, Mark Abeles-Allison, Bill Kacvinsky, Kris Kavajecz, Verne Gilles, Otto
Korpela, Pat Olson, David Lee, City of Ashland Mayor Fred Schnook
Meeting was called to order at 1:00pm by Chairman Rondeau.
Motion by Jardine, Second by Bichanich to approve the minutes of the September 10 and September 13,
2002 Executive Committee meetings. Motion Carried.
Abeles-Allison handed out revised budget summary pages and reviewed the major changes to the
document. He explained that after a discussion with the county auditors, the monies for the jail project
would be expended from the general fund rather than through the jail project fund. By doing this, it
eliminates the illusion that the budget expenditures were inflated by 4 million dollars. In addition, budget
figures in the Jail Assessment fund were increased to include projected revenues for 2003, which will all be
expended for the jail expansion project, thus reducing the amount of excess revenue needed for the jail
project. The jail expansion debt service fund will also be used in 2003 to reduce the amount of excess
revenue needed for the jail project.
Otto Korpela and Pat Olson presented information supporting the need to retain the current ½ time position
in the Register of Deeds office. They briefly explained that the microimaging is only a small portion of
what they do in their office and also shared staffing comparisons from neighboring counties.
After brief discussion, a motion was made by Jardine, Second by Kittleson to include 4/10 time employee in
the Register of Deeds office and 1/10 time employee in the District Attorney’s office. Motion Carried.
A discussion was held regarding the Forestry budget and the request for an additional forester. The
committee agreed that the forester position should remain in the budget and that the budget should be
amended to reflect a clothing allowance for foresters in accordance with the union contract.
After brief discussion, the committee agreed to make no changes to the proposed Home Health budget.
The committee discussed the items identified by Kay Cederberg in the previous Executive Committee
meeting as they pertained to the Circuit Court budget. The committee felt that the proposed budget was
reasonable and that if an unusual circumstance arose, which mandated a large expenditure, not budgeted
for, it made more sense to use contingency fund dollars than to levy dollars that may not be needed. The
committee agreed to accept the proposed budget for the circuit court.
David Lee made a presentation regarding proposed budget adjustments to the Land Records department.
The main concerns included a reduction of the monumentation supplies and software support. After his
presentation and exit from the committee meeting, the committee discussed the proposed budget and agreed
to accept the proposed Land Records budget.
City of Ashland Mayor, Fred Schnook, made a brief presentation regarding the JFK Airport. The City is
requesting that Bayfield County submit a letter committing to become full partners in the airport in the
future. Mayor Schnook explained the importance of the airport to the region and emphasized the other
cooperative efforts currently in place. A brief discussion was held regarding the possibility of in-kind
contributions rather than or in addition to financial contributions.
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Abeles-Allison explained that the Land Conservation Budget is extremely complex because it takes into
consideration four separate counties. The details of this budget are still being worked out, however, the
levy amount for 2003 will remain the same that it was in 2002.
A brief discussion was held regarding the staffing for the Emergency Government and Veterans Service
Offices. The budget proposes to replace one full-time and one part-time position with one full-time
position to be shared by the two offices. The committee agreed to accept the budget as proposed.
A very brief discussion regarding the Human Services budget resulted in the committee recommending that
the proposed budget be accepted.
A lengthy discussion took place regarding the proposed funding for the Bayfield County Economic
Development Corporation. While the committee agreed that economic development was important to
Bayfield County, they could not agree on the method for encouraging development and were concerned
with the lack of measurable results to date from the Economic Development Corporation. The committee
agreed to fund $21,000 and authorize Abeles-Allison to establish specific, measurable criteria, which
would be presented to the Economic Development Corporation. If the criteria are met, the Economic
Development Corporation would be allotted an additional $21,000. One of the criteria, as requested by
Rondeau is that a presentation be made to the Executive Committee a minimum of once every 3 months.
Abeles-Allison explained that a membership to ITBEC was included in the budget, however, it would not
require any levy dollars to fund it. Several chambers and business organizations would provide the funding
for a county membership on a one-year trial basis.
The committee again discussed the proposed funding for the JFK Airport. The committee agreed to fund
$10,000 in 2003 and also authorized Abeles-Allison to issue a letter to the City of Ashland and Ashland
County expressing our support of the airport and that Bayfield County will investigate the possibility of
additional funding or in-kind contributions in the future.
The committee unanimously supported the proposed budget for the Northern Waters Library and Library
Commission.
Brief discussion regarding the Highway Department proposed budget took place. Abeles-Allison explained
that $25,000 was removed from the Highway Department budget and put into the general fund for internal
services such as snow plowing, welding etc.. for other county departments. Comment from Kacvinsky was
that he felt the 25% reserve in the Highway Department should be evaluated and possibly reduced. Abeles-
Allison explained that although the proposed expenditures increased, there was no increase to the levy.
Excess revenue in the highway department would be reduced by using some of those funds to offset
proposed expenditures for highway projects in 2003.
Abeles-Allison reviewed each line item in the Capital Improvement 5-Year Plan. County Software
development would be increased from $20,000 to $24,000. This expenditure is for the development of a 5-
county software program for property records. $10,000 designated for the JFK Airport was eliminated.
The amount of $25,000 for showers and electricity and Twin Bear Campground was reduced to $18,000
per discussions with the Tourism director. The $3000 identified for District Attorney office expansion was
eliminated because it was felt that funding was still available through the courthouse maintenance budget in
2002 to accomplish this request.
A question was posed by Kittleson regarding the Administrative Support line item in the County Clerk
budget. Gordon explained that this line item identified the funding, which was approved by the Personnel
Committee, to compensate him for his contribution as Administrative Coordinator, while Abeles-Allison is
becoming familiar with the County accounting and personnel policies. Kittleson suggested that possibly
the amount paid to Gordon should be taken from the Administrator’s budget. Gordon explained that the
county has a contract with Abeles-Allison for a designated amount.
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Motion by Jardine, Second by Bichanich to accept the budget as discussed and modified in today’s meeting
and to authorize the County Clerk and County Administrator to prepare and forward the proposed budget
to the full county board. It was further moved that the County Clerk and Administrator are authorized to
publish the appropriate documents in the County Journal and provide statutory notice of a Public Hearing
regarding the proposed budget. Motion Carried.
Motion by Bichanich, Second by Jardine to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 3:45pm