Video summary
The Sheboygan County Board of Supervisors convened on February 17, 2026, to honor the life and legacy of former Chairperson Mike Vandersteen, who passed away in December 2025. A formal resolution was introduced and unanimously adopted to recognize his fifteen years of service as a supervisor and four years as county board chair, during which he led significant infrastructure projects at the airport and health care center while earning the Wisconsin Good Government Award. The board also extended heartfelt sympathy to his wife, Julie, and children, Rob and Katie, acknowledging his dedication to public service and environmental stewardship, particularly his efforts in removing contaminants from the Sheboygan River. Following a moment of silence and a brief emotional address by Julie Vandersteen, the meeting proceeded with the approval of the January 20th journal and the receipt of informational correspondence regarding wind and solar local control from Wood County.
The administrative report highlighted two primary financial and legal initiatives for immediate action. First, the board authorized the purchase of approximately one acre of vacant land and a school building from St. Clement's congregation to expand county facilities; this acquisition will be funded from the general fund unassigned balance, which estimates suggest is currently at or slightly above the required 30% policy threshold of roughly $33.5 million. Second, the board approved Resolution 20, which empowers the county to engage outside counsel on a contingency fee basis to litigate against major manufacturers like 3M and DuPont for PFAS contamination in soil and groundwater. This legal strategy aims to secure funding for cleanup efforts without burdening taxpayers with costs associated with pollution they did not cause, drawing parallels to previous successful opioid litigation cases.
Subsequent business included the unanimous adoption of Resolution 21, which allowed unexpended appropriations from 2025 to carry over into 2026, ensuring efficient use of existing funds. The board also passed Ordinance 14 to amend the shoreline ordinance in Section 17 of the Town of Holland and referred additional items, including a proposal for issuing up to $14.8 million in general obligation promissory notes and an amendment to include the Circuit Court Department in Chapter 2, to their respective committees for further review. With no public presentations or addresses received during the session, the meeting concluded with a formal adjournment after addressing all agenda items through unanimous votes or committee referrals.
Read the full video transcript
And now
to hear this weird
>> [music]
>> Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the
meeting tonight. Tonight's uh
Tuesday, February 17th, Sheboygan County
Board of Supervisors meeting. I will
call to order.
Are we
got our phones off?
Okay. Are we in compliance with the open
meeting law, Mr.
>> We are. The agenda was posted on
February 13th at 11:00 a.m.
>> Okay. Join me in the Pledge of
Allegiance, please.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America,
and to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God,
indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you.
>> Did we end?
>> Yeah, I did.
>> Okay. Roll call, please.
>> I have 25 supervisors present.
>> Okay. Thank you.
Start tonight's meeting with a
resolution number 22 honoring the life
of Mike Vandersteen. I'll give it to
you, Clerk.
>> All right.
Whereas former County Board Chairperson
Mike Vandersteen passed away on December
8th, 2025,
and whereas Mr. Vandersteen served as
County Board Supervisor for 15 years
from April of 1998 to April of 2013,
having served on the Health Care Center
Committee from 18, sorry, 1998 to 2008,
Finance Committee from 2003 through 2006
and 2012
through 2013, the Committee Vice Chair
from 2012 to 2013, and the Executive
Committee from 2008 through 2012. And
whereas, Mr. Vandersteen also served as
County Board Chairperson
from 2008 to 2012. And whereas,
during his time as County Board
Chairperson,
Sheboygan County received a Wisconsin
Good Government Award in 2009 from the
Wisconsin Counties Association. He led
infrastructure improvement efforts at
the Sheboygan County Memorial
International Airport and Rocky Knoll
Health Care Center,
as well as the construction of the
Sheboygan Broughton Marsh Park
Observation Tower.
He supported consolidation of county
departments and services to increase
efficiency and reduce costs.
And he promoted a partnership to remove
contaminants from the Sheboygan River.
And whereas, along with his service to
Sheboygan County, Mr. Vandersteen served
as Mayor of the City of Sheboygan from
2013 through 2021.
And whereas, Mr. Vandersteen
will be remembered for his dedication
to the continued improvement of
Sheboygan County and his efforts to
serve the public interest. Now,
therefore, be it resolved that by
passage of this resolution,
the County Board herewith makes public
its recognition of Mr. Vandersteen's
dedicated service
to the citizens and the county, and
expresses its heartfelt sympathy to his
family and friends, and especially his
wife, Julie,
and children, Rob and Katie. Be it
further resolved that the clerk be
directed to forward a copy of this
resolution to his wife, Julie
Vandersteen, and children, Rob
Vandersteen and Katie McMahon.
Respectfully submitted this day, 2026.
>> Thank you.
Pursuant to County Board Rule 2.13, this
resolution will be on the floor for
immediate action. Please rise and join
me in a moment of silence.
Thank you, Susan.
>> Thank you.
>> Julie, would you please come forward?
>> [laughter]
>> He and many of you that I still
recognize here worked on.
Um
he loved working with the great people.
He
thought very highly of many people,
especially Adam Peen, who was sick
tonight and couldn't make it, and Keith
Lorenz in particular.
Um my family and I just want to thank
you for this special recognition. Mike
would have loved it. Thank you.
>> [applause]
>> Thank you, Julie.
Okay, next on our agenda,
approval of the January 20th, 2026
journal.
I would entertain a motion, please.
Supervisor Ketch.
Thank you, Supervisor Gruber.
>> Second that.
>> Motion's been made and seconded for
approval of the January 20th, 2026
journal.
Any comments, corrections?
Hearing none, please vote.
Journal's been approved unanimously.
Thank you. Mr. Clark, are there any
presentations this evening? There are no
presentations.
Are there any public addresses? There
are none.
Okay, good. Thank you.
Any letters, communications, or
announcements?
>> We have one resolution from Wood County
um requesting that the WECA
lobby the state legislators to give
local control
back to local municipalities for wind
and solar.
>> Okay, thank you. We've
dealt with this a while back also, so
I'd recommend that we receive this for
information.
That is all I have.
Thank you.
Administrator Cross, County
Administrator's report?
>> Good evening, everyone.
I have a a very brief report this
evening. I'm just going to touch on two
topics that are in your agenda for
action this evening. The first is
resolution number 19, and that is
regarding authorizing the purchase of
approximately 1 acre from St. Clement's
congregation.
To give a little bit of background,
we've been in communication with
representatives from St. Clement's
congregation for nearly a year
discussing this. They had a desire to
sell the the property, and the county
has a history of purchasing property
that's contiguous to its existing
facilities as they become available.
The purchase is for the vacant school
building and then the parking lot that
is immediately behind it.
Uh for those of you who have maybe
driven past or have um perhaps even gone
to school there when you were younger,
you may be aware that the condition is
currently uh
the building is currently in very poor
condition. They haven't been using it
for a number of years,
and the condition is also reflected in
the purchase price.
The plan is to raise the building and
then regrade the lot.
We don't have any current plans for the
land, um but we appreciate the ability
to work with the church on this, and
they've been very supportive throughout
the process, and there are mutually
beneficial outcomes to this, such as the
easement, the right of first refusal,
and the use of the parking lot going
forward.
And then, uh lastly, I just wanted to
touch on fund balance. The uh
acquisition is proposed to be paid for
out of our general fund unassigned fund
balance. We're still working on closing
our 2025 financials, um but our early
estimates suggest that we are at or
slightly above our general fund
unassigned fund balance policy at uh
30%, and to put that into context, it's
about $33.5 million.
The second item I'm going to touch on
this evening is resolution number 20,
and that is regarding authorizing the
engagement with outside counsel against
companies responsible for PFAS
contamination.
So, this is a multi-jurisdictional
litigation against companies like 3M and
DuPont, who continued to manufacture and
sell PFAS long after becoming aware of
the long-term and far-reaching
contamination issues that they caused.
Uh there's been class action cases going
on for several years. First, they were
focusing on the groundwater
contamination, and those have been
settling, and now they're focusing on
the soil contamination cases, and those
are being investigated and litigated.
The resolution before you was drafted by
the Wisconsin Counties Association and
uh their general counsel, Andy Phillips,
and it was meant for adoption by
counties who may have properties that
are affected by PFAS contamination.
Most commonly for counties, the
properties that may be impacted by this
are county-owned landfills or airports.
And we reasonable reasonably believe
that firefighting foam containing PFAS
was used at our airport.
So, this is similar to the opioid
litigation that we entered into many
years ago, and this resolution will
authorize us to work with outside
counsel to seek funding so that we
aren't expected to use tax levy to clean
up on these areas and the problem that
we didn't cause.
And that concludes my report this
evening.
>> Thank you administrator Cross. Thank
you.
Moving on resolution number 21 from
considering the committee reports.
Um, yes, I'm sorry resolution number 21
regarding carryover of unexpended 2025
preparations to 2026 committee
recommendation adopt.
Supervisor Wegner.
>> I'll vote.
>> Thank you supervisor Gearing.
Thank you.
Motion has been made and seconded for
approval of resolution number 21
carrying over unexpected unexpended 2025
appropriations
to 26. Are there any discussion or
questions, comments?
Any comments or questions?
Hearing none, please vote.
>> The resolution passed unanimously.
>> Thank you.
Moving on to ordinance number 14
regarding amending shoreline ordinance
section 17 town of Holland
recommendation to enact.
Supervisor Gearing.
>> I'll vote.
>> Thank you supervisor Clark.
>> I'll second that.
>> All right, the motion has been made and
seconded
amending
shoreline ordinance in section 17 town
of Holland.
Ordinance number 14. Any comments,
questions, discussion?
Any discussion? Hearing none, please
vote.
>> Ordinance 14 passed unanimously.
Thank you.
Now consideration of committee reports
from Finance Committee number resolution
19
regarding authorizing purchase of 1.014
acres.
Recommendation to adopt.
Supervisor Gearing.
Supervisor Kuhl.
>> I second a motion.
>> Thank you.
Motion's been made and second for
resolution 19 authorizing purchase of
1.014 acres
northerly part of
that parcel from St. Clement's
congregation.
Any discussion or comments
regarding this resolution? Hearing none,
please vote.
That resolution passed unanimously.
Thank you.
And lastly resolution number 20
regarding authorizing the engagement of
outside counsel on a contingency fee
basis to initiate lawsuits against
companies that designed, manufactured,
marketed, distributed, and or sold
fluorosulfacted products that
contaminated the soil, groundwater, and
surface water Sheboygan County with
highly toxic compounds. Recommendation
to adopt.
Thank you. Supervisor Gearing.
And Supervisor Wegner.
Motion's been made and seconded to
approve resolution number 20 on the PFOA
doc or none.
Um
are there any comments at this time? Any
questions?
I didn't read the whole thing, but
it's been read.
Hearing none, please vote.
Resolution 20 passed
>> Thank you. I'll turn the gavel over to
Supervisor Brower.
Vice Chair.
>> Thank you, uh,
Chairman, uh, Abler. Resolutions
introduced, resolution number 23.
>> From the Finance Committee regarding
resolution authorizing the issuance and
establishing parameters for the sale of
not to exceed
14,800,000
general obligation promissory notes.
>> That will be referred to the Executive
Committee. Ordinances introduced,
ordinance number 15.
>> From Law Committee regarding amending
Chapter 2 to include Circuit Court
Department.
>> That will be referred to the Finance
Committee. Next item on the agenda
is adjournment. Supervisor Gering,
please help us.
Thank you, Supervisor Gering. Supervisor
Wagner.
>> I'll have a motion to discuss.
>> Thank you.
Please vote.
We are adjourned.
>> [music]