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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExecutive Committee - Minutes - 7/20/2004L:\COMMITTEES AND BOARDS\EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE\2004\Exec Minutes 072004.doc Page 1 of 4 BAYFIELD COUNTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Minutes, July 20, 2004 Bayfield County Board Room Members Present: John J. Blahnik, Brett Rondeau, Verne Gilles, Kenneth Jardine, Harold Maki Members Absent: Neil Paulson Others Present: Mark Abeles-Allison, Kris Kavajecz, Delores Kittleson, William Kacvinsky, Rick Olivo, & members of the public Call to Order; Meeting called to order by Chairman Rondeau at 4:05 pm. Motion Regarding Minutes of the June 8, 2004 Executive Committee Meeting; Motion by Jardine, Second by Maki to approve the minutes of the June 8, 2004 meeting as presented. Motion Carried. Presentation by Jerry Johnson, Impact 7: In place of Mr. Johnson, Bruce Lindgren with the Bayfield County Economic Development Corporation addressed the committee regarding recent significant changes of the organization. Lindgren reported that the BCEDC Executive Committee has accepted Jim Radtke’s resignation. Jim will continue to provide support for the organization through the end of the month. Lindgren explained how the organization is addressing their current financial situation and asked that the county continue to support the economic development effort. Financial Reports: Abeles-Allison reviewed the cash report provided by the Treasurer’s office. He explained significant expenditures that were made over the past year to reduce the county’s debt. He also explained that the Veteran’s office will be requesting additional monies for their transportation budget at the upcoming County Board meeting. 2005 Budget Planning: Abeles-Allison reported that budget direction has been provided to Department Heads and to outside agencies, which are partially funded by the county. He explained that a 3-4% increase over the 2004 budget was identified as a guideline when preparing budgets. He also reported that Department Heads have been provided with the minutes from the recent County Board Budget Planning Session. Criminal Justice Coordinator: Tom Gordon spoke at the request of Neil Paulson, who could not attend the meeting. Gordon asked the committee to keep an open mind about the prospect of adding a position of Criminal Justice Coordinator when forming the 2005 budget. He gave various examples of how the position could benefit the county going forward. Information Service Staff: Abeles-Allison provided background on current staffing as well as contract staffing in the Information Services Department. Idea is to look at phasing out contract employees and replace with permanent staff. Contract staff maintains a special computer, which will be replaced in the next year with a PC. The committee discussed recent changes in the Information Service Department and concerns they have heard. L:\COMMITTEES AND BOARDS\EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE\2004\Exec Minutes 072004.doc Page 2 of 4 Maki asked the Administrator to clarify that the proposal is to add two permanent FT staff persons. Discussion took place regarding the two staff persons, including the cost of the staffing and how the positions would be funded. In response to a question regarding the Criminal Justice Council, Abeles-Allison provided background on the 5 meetings that were held in the community regarding the purpose and direction of the Criminal Justice Council and ideas for future programming. Brief background was provided on the Jail Literacy Program and Community Service Program. Maki would like to see a report to the board or committees showing the results of programs that the county funds. Discussion & Possible Action Regarding Parking Designation Plan. The committee reviewed the drawing and recommendation from the Labor-Management Group for a parking designation plan. The plan identified public, general, and employee parking. Motion by Maki, second by Blahnik to accept the parking designation plan as presented on a trial basis. The plan will be reviewed at the September meeting. Discussion was held regarding parking for County Board members here for meetings. The committee decided that Board Members would attempt to park in employee parking, but would utilize public parking if employee parking was not available. Motion Carried Discussion & Possible Action Regarding Budget Amendment for Interdepartmental Fund. Abeles-Allison asked that this item be tabled once again. It pertains to the budget amount for the Jail project. Motion by Jardine, Second by Maki to table this item. Motion Carried. Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Funding for Milk Volume Pricing Program: Blahnik explained that the Department of Commerce requested that the county utilize Block Grant funds for an agricultural loan program, utilizing the state MVP criteria. Blahnik explained that the Block Grant Committee did not support the application and provided the reasons why the committee did not support the program. Issues included: no administrative funding from the state to administer the program, lower interest rate than regular Block Grant Loans, resulting in little or no return to the Block Grant, as well as concerns about the collateral requirements for the MVP loans. For clarification, Abeles-Allison explained that several years ago the county received $750,000 to begin a revolving loan program. Currently about $380,000 is available to be loaned. State has asked Bayfield County to begin considering MVP loans. Gilles stated that he believes the county should investigate this further and consider implementing a MVP loan program. One suggestion is to designate a certain portion of the CDBG funding to the MVP. Gilles suggested talking to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture to help with establishing criteria and monitoring, since they are more familiar with agricultural operations. Motion by Maki, second by Gilles to look further into designating up to $100,000 of Revolving Loan Funds for the MVP Program, and incorporating persons with agricultural knowledge to participate on the loan committee. Motion Carried. L:\COMMITTEES AND BOARDS\EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE\2004\Exec Minutes 072004.doc Page 3 of 4 Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Direction for the Tourism & Recreation Committee & legal fees pertaining to the trail right-of-way issue: Abeles-Allison reported on expenditures that have been made through the Corporation Council Budget in 2004. He explained that in an Executive Session of the County Board, the board authorized up to $2500 to be spent to investigate a specific issue related to a specific section of the railroad grade. The 2004 budget for Corporation Council is $17,000. Abeles-Allison reviewed the expenditures to date, which include $6573 spent for Corporation Council through the end of June and $2937, spent at the beginning of July, totaling approximately $9500 spent Year-to-date for all corporation council expenses. He explained that outside council may be needed for the right-of- way issue, and that funding may need to be designated outside of the Corporation Council budget. Abeles-Allison clarified that corporation council expenses are mainly County Board related items and that departments fund legal issues individually, such as Child Support, Human Services, Property Lister, etc. Jardine read a statement regarding tourism statistics and related how the statistics impact local persons. Maki stated that we need to be aware of concerns of local persons. Abeles-Allison recommended that the committee go to item 11 on the agenda and enter executive session. Motion by Blahnik, second by Jardine to enter Executive Session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes §19.85,(1),(e) (g) for conferring with legal council who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to rail grade issues. Roll Call Vote: All Yes, Motion Carried. Citizen Hawksford asked for clarification on who legal council is. Abeles-Allison explained that a representative from Stafford-Rosenbaum is on the phone to confer with the committee. The committee took a two minute break, all public participants exited the meeting at this time. Motion by Jardine, Second by Maki to return to open session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes §19.85,(1),(e) (g) for conferring with legal council who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to rail grade issues. Roll Call: All Yes-Motion Carried. Motion by Blahnik, second by Maki to allow Mark Abeles-Allison to consult with legal counsel, Stafford Rosenbaum, regarding a recommendation pertaining to the Open Records requests and the course of action that the County should pursue regarding the right-of-way issue. Motion Carried. Abeles-Allison explained to the citizens that several open records requests have been received. The county is consulting with legal council regarding how to respond to those requests. In addition, the county board has not yet formed a position on the right-of way issue. The committee agreed to allow brief comment from the public, although it was stated that this is not a public hearing. Linda Johnson-Morke questioned how much money will be spent on this issue. Abeles-Allison stated that the County Board will need to make that decision. John L:\COMMITTEES AND BOARDS\EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE\2004\Exec Minutes 072004.doc Page 4 of 4 Hawksford asked if the county will release the legal brief he has requested. Abeles-Allison stated that the document is covered by attorney-client privilege. Hawksford stated that the County will be hearing from his attorney. Another citizen thanked the committee for addressing the public and taking action in open session although they did not have to. Motion by Blahnik, second by Gilles to enter Executive Session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes §19.85,(1),(e) (g) for deliberation regarding public property where competitive issues are involved; forestry land exchange in the Towns of Hughes and Iron River Roll Call Vote: All Yes- Motion Carried. Motion by Blahnik, second by Maki to return to Open Session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes §19.85,(1),(e) (g) for deliberation regarding public property where competitive issues are involved; forestry land exchange in the Towns of Hughes and Iron River Roll Call Vote: All Yes- Motion Carried. Motion by Gilles, second by Jardine to enter Executive Session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 19.85, (1) (c) for the purpose of reviewing performance evaluation data for county department heads and reclassification requests. Roll-Call Vote. All-Yes-Motion Carried. Motion by Blahnik, second by Maki to return to Open Session pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 19.85, (1) (c) for the purpose of reviewing performance evaluation data for county department heads and reclassification requests. Roll-Call Vote. All-Yes-Motion Carried. Gilles suggested that the county should consider reviewing the pay scale system. Reports and Any other topics of discussion as presented by the committee members or County Administrator: A brief discussion was held regarding scheduling of the Executive Committee Meetings. Meetings are generally held on the second Tuesday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for 4:00pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004. Motion by Jardine, Second by Maki to adjourn. Motion Carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:30pm.