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HomeMy WebLinkAboutExecutive Committee - Minutes - 8/9/20231 Minutes of the Bayfield County Executive Committee Meeting 4:30pm, August 9, 2023 Meeting was held Remotely through Microsoft Teams and in person in the Bayfield County Board Room, Washburn, WI Members Present: Fred Strand, Dennis Pocernich, Brett Rondeau, Jeff Silbert, Mary Dougherty, Jeremy Oswald Members Excused: Others Present: Mark Abeles-Allison-County Administrator, Kim Mattson, Marty Milanowski, Craig Parks-Maintenance, Lynn Divine-County Clerk, Charly Ray, Gwen Daoust, Brandon Miller, Nicole Solheim-Cinnaire, Kelly Westlund-Housing Specialist Called to order at 4:41p.m. by Chairman Rondeau. Motion Strand, Silbert to approve minutes of the July 13, 2023 Executive Committee meeting. Motion Carried (6-0). Public Comment: None 2024 Department Budget Overviews: Maintenance 2024 Budget requests: Parks explained the request for the elevator controls upgrade estimated at $118,000. A list of other proposed Capital requests was reviewed. County Clerk 2024 Budget Request: Divine reported that 2024 will be a presidential election year and several additional elections. Printing and publication costs are estimated to be $57,000 combined. The budget also reflects staffing modification related to the Clerk position and removal of the Accountant and Bookkeeper positions. Cinnaire Solution Housing Proposal and First Amendment and Option Agreement. Nicole Solheim with Cinnaire: The next WHEDA grant/funding application for the Washburn Housing development project is due in January 2024. Solheim shared several design options for consideration and explained the timeline for the application, bidding and construction process. Kelly Westlund shared new developments and funding opportunities that are being pursued related to housing. Committee members debated the pros and cons of the various development layout proposals (single building, multiple buildings, single level, multiple level). Motion Oswald, Pocernich to recommend extension of the Cinnaire Option Agreement with an amendment to the agreement to include a 15-year right of first refusal to the county board for consideration. Motion Carried (6-0) 2 Strand exited the meeting at 5:45pm. Department 2024 Budget Presentations: Land Records does not have any major changes for the 2024 budget. • Revenues for Land Sale are projected to be the same, people are very interested in property. There may be a decrease in revenue due to new stipulations but as of now people want property to build homes. • Request for Capital improvement for additional products from the LIDAR flight that will be delivered in the Fall of 2023. The first is a project to create a better hydro flow model of Bayfield County and the other is a web mapping tool service to place the LiDAR online for use by everyone that needs it in the county. • Working on grant applications for additional work for Next Gen911 mapping to continue the work needed to implement Next Gen 911. Motor Pool: Revenues are down about $20,000 in 2023, as of end of July. Expenditures are down slightly also. A similar budget will be proposed next year. Vehicle costs are increasing. Considering purchasing the old Sheriff Recreation Truck for the Maintenance Department Plow Truck. Delivery timelines on vehicles are still uncertain. Forestry trucks and fleet vehicles ordered early this year have not been built yet. County Fees for 2024 Budget, Including County Coroner Fee Adjustments: Abeles-Allison suggested an annual review of all fee schedules in county offices. Recommendation is to increase the Coroner Cremation fees by the allowable amount (CPI-U). Motion Pocernich, Oswald to authorize increasing the Coroner Cremation Fees by the allowable CPI-U. Motion Carried (5-0) Committee asked for research on whether the Coroner position can be converted to a Medical Examiner position. 2023 Highway Funds and Pigeon Lake Section of County Highway N: The 2023 budget was prepared with additional funds in the amount of $840k for raising sections of County Highway N. We paved all of N this year WITHOUT raising this section of highway. Final construction documents showed that right of way would be required. As this borders national forest this would / will take a long time. We thought it was important to get the paving of the entire section of N done all at once. Highway Dept is optimistic about the chance of getting funding to raise N to address possible flooding if lake levels climb again. This means that the supplemental funds transferred to Highway were NOT used as proposed. 3 Highway is proposing that these funds instead be used for County Highway H pavement preservation (chip seal). Highway Committee will consider this proposal on August 2. Want to confirm this is ok with the Executive Committee too. Motion Pocernich, Silbert to authorize the highway department to use the $840,000 for County Highway H improvements in place of raising County Highway N. Motion Carried(5-0). TEA Grant Application at Business Park: Motion Silbert, Pocernich to approve the TEA Grant application. Motion Carried (5-0) New Broadband Grant Program: The state has announced a new broadband program with federal funds. Ideas include: Ensuring municipal, fire and EMS facilities are connected, Ensuring County facility connectivity, Home medical for health monitoring. Application is due in November. Resolution for NextGen 911 GIS Grant: Motion Silbert, Pocernich to approve the Resolution supporting the NextGen911 Grant application and forward to the County Board for approval. Motion Carried (5-0) Reports: a. Sheriff Office Protective Services Proposal and Upcoming WCA Seminar: The Sheriff’s Office has discussed funding for jailers to move to protective status. This is allowed under Act 4, but at employees cost on a voluntary basis. Benefits include earlier retirement and pension supplements. WCA will be sponsoring a webinar related to ACT4 in the coming months. The Sheriff’s Office will be including proposed wage increases in their budget related to this topic. b. Northern Lights Special Committee Update: Committee is working to prepare recommendations to proceed. c. Financial Reports end of July 2023: Many large projects are showing the year to date expenditures verses the previous year expenditures are significantly higher. d. Treasurer’s Report, end of July 2023: Currently receiving just over 5% interest. Iron River Incubator payment has been received. e. Joint Dispatch Board: The Director job description was approved. Plans are being made to attempt to be operational before January 1, 2025. Motion Pocernich, Oswald to move into Closed Session pursuant to §19.85(1) (e) Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session. Discussion and Possible Action, July 13, 2023 Closed Session Minutes. Motion Carried (5-0 ). Entered closed session at 6:07 pm. 4 Motion Pocernich, Oswald to return to open session. Motion Carried (5-0). Returned to open session at 6:08pm Meeting adjourned at 6:08p.m. Respectfully submitted by Kristine Kavajecz.