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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExecutive Committee - Minutes - 9/13/2016Minutes of the Bayfield County Executive Committee Meeting 2:00PM, September 13, 2016 EOC, Bayfield County Annex, Washburn, WI Members Present: Brett Rondeau, Jeff Silbert, Fred Strand, Shawn Miller, William Bussey, Harold Maki Members Excused: None Others Present: Mark Abeles-Allison-County Administrator, Kristine Kavajecz-Assistant, Scott Galetka-Land Records Administrator, Bob Mick-County Surveyor, Sheriff Paul Susienka, Deb Milanowski-Sheriff Confidential Secretary, Paul Houck-Information Technology Director, Elizabeth Skulan-Human Services Director, Nikki Revak-Human Services Financial Manager, Jason Bodine-Forest Administrator Meeting called to order at 2:01 pm by Chairman Rondeau. Public Comment: None Minutes of September 8, 2016: Motion Miller, Bussey to approve minutes of the September 8, 2016 Executive Committee meeting. Motion Carried. Presentation of 2017 Proposed Budget: Abeles-Allison explained that several individual departments will be making presentations today. A handout was provided with several corrections and some additional supporting information for the budget. Items included: corrected capital improvement fund narrative, updated child support narrative, trail initiative program concept detail, summary of unreimbursable flood expenses. Land Records: Scott Galetka reviewed the plan for the retirement of our current part-time county surveyor anticipated for August, 2017. The current surveyor assists with Land Records, Zoning, Forestry. Some additional survey projects are contracted out to others. Bob Mick explained that Kurt Tibbals was recently hired as a Land Records Assistant (grant funded). Kurt does not meet the qualifications of a surveyor, but is an excellent assistant. Bob noted that he has donated his surveying software to the county. The county is considering hiring a full-time surveyor when Bob retires. There is potential that if the county were to hire a full-time surveyor, they could also conduct work for the Land Conservation, Zoning, Highway Department and Forestry Departments that is currently contracted separately by those departments. Suggestion was made to reach out to the surveyor network to gauge interest in a part-time position with assistant. The proposed budget currently includes a full-time surveyor for the second half of 2017. Galetka also reported that the interactive map is planned to be updated to a new format. A portion of the project was completed in 2016. An additional $20,000 is budgeted for 2017 to complete the project. Sheriff’s Department: $4.4 million budgeted. 3.6% increase over 2016, primarily wages and benefits. Additional funds are budgeted in the Capital Improvements Fund in the amount of $93,706. WISCOM items were removed from the budget. Sheriff Susienka explained that an additional officer was authorized in 2016. No staff increases are requested in 2017. There are 3 cost centers: Sheriff, Jail, Dispatch. We are currently having difficulty recruiting part-time staff in the jail. Average daily population in the jail is about 64, with an average of 20 inmates boarded daily from other counties. Boarding revenue currently covers the cost of the additional staff needed. The Sheriff’s Committee will be recommending increasing the fees for boarding inmates from $40 to $50 per day. Some of the area police departments are short staffed, which is causing additional calls for Sheriff’s Department staff. The committee discussed protective -vs- general status of Jailers, explaining the history to the newer county board members that were not part of the Act 10 transition. Capital Improvement requests for the Sheriff’s Department were reviewed. It was also noted that 2 jail related expenses are included in the Courthouse maintenance Capital Improvement Budget for air conditioning and jail cell repairs (showers, sinks, toilets). $3 million in fund balance is proposed to be used ($1.5 highway, $1.1 to capital improvements) in 2017. Abeles-Allison explained that generally, excess revenue from the previous year is used to fund capital improvements in the subsequent year. By using this philosophy, capital projects are only funded when there is excess revenue to pay for them. Information Technology: Paul Houck reviewed the budget proposal for a 4.3% increase. Computers are on a 4 year replacement schedule. The budget includes and upgrade to Office2016 for all county computers. Email encryption, automatic updates, skype for business, and improved document sharing are all improvements that come with the upgrade. The Capital Improvement Fund requests were reviewed. The primary capital expense is an upgrade to the core county service (switches, storage). A lengthy discussion was held regarding the cost of technology and the short lifespan of technology. Fleet Presentation: Abeles-Allison introduced Ben Walljasper with Enterprise who presented some information on a fleet management system for the general county fleet (not sheriff or highway). County is currently running on about a 10 year vehicle rotation cycle. The goal of the Enterprise system is to sell vehicles at the optimum time to get the best price and before maintenance costs get too high. Enterprise is currently working with 12 MN counties and 3 WI Counties. This is an initial presentation. There is some time to discuss this topic. Miller exited the meeting at 3:55pm. Human Services: Skulan and Revak provided an overview of the Human Services budget. Approximately a .5% expenditure decrease, but the levy will remain the same as 2016. The budget includes the addition of a Family Specialist to work toward reducing the out of home placements. It is anticipated that the position will be cost neutral because of the savings in reduced out of home placement costs. The department needs to purchase a new computer software in 2017. Funds are budgeted in the capital improvement budget for this software. Forestry & Parks: Proposed budget reflects .5% increase in expenses and 7% increase in revenues for 2017. The Good Neighbor program is not expected to have an impact on county forest revenues. The committee discussed the importance of Forest revenues and how they are budgeted. Because of the potential volatility with stumpage prices and demand, revenues are budgeted conservatively. When the budgeted revenues are exceeded, these revenues are generally what are used to fund capital projects in the subsequent year. Next meeting is Tuesday, Sept 20 at 4:00 in the County Board Room. Sept 22 at 2:00pm in the County Board Room. Bodine reviewed the items included in the Capital Improvement Fund budget including: Informational signs regarding harvest areas. Mooring dock for Twin Bear Campground. There is rental charged for seasonal campers for the mooring of their boats. Access ramp at Delta campground (currently closed because it is deteriorated). County Trail Development project for new trail development. Overflow parking at Twin Bear (Bodine stated that this amount could be reduced if necessary). Recreation planning for motorized trail system/recreation in the county. Meeting Adjourned at 4:50pm.