County Board 2026 05 19

[music] >> Thank you. I'll call the Tuesday, May 19th, Sheboygan County Board of Supervisors meeting to order. Um are we in compliance with the open meeting law? >> Yes, we are. The agenda was posted on May 15th at 2:30 p.m. >> Thank you. Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Roll call, please, Mr. Clerk. >> Supervisor Wagner, are you chiming in remotely? >> I am. >> Thank you. Supervisor Clark, do you happen to be online? Supervisor Ellis, you want to hit your present button. 23 >> 23 supervisors are present. >> Thank you. We'll start tonight with uh we've got two memorial resolutions. They're from some dear friends. I'd like to consider the first one, Mr. Clerk. Resolution number one honoring the life of former County Board Supervisor Fran Damp. Whereas County Board Supervisor Fran Damp passed away on April 11th, 2026, and whereas Fran was first elected to County Board in 2008 and served on the Planning Resources, Agriculture, and Extension Committee from 2012 to 2020 where she served as vice chair from 2014 to 2018 and chairperson from 2018 to 2022 Healthcare Center Committee from 2020 to 2022 and the Health Human Resources Committee from 2008 to 2022 where she served as vice chair from 2012 to 2014, chairperson from 2014 to 2016, and again from 2020 to 2022. And whereas Fran actively tackled workforce challenges by supporting initiatives to enhance recruitment and retention, developing employee policies, and providing oversight for compensation and wellness initiatives. She also represented the County Board on the Bay Area Workforce Development Board from 2009 to 2022. And whereas along with her services to Sheboygan County, some of Fran's activities in the community included volunteering with the Red Cross volunteering as a poll worker for numerous elections, and playing an essential role in in the formation of the Plymouth Junior Women's Club in which she served as its first president. And whereas Fran will be remembered as a constant presence with Sheboygan County dedicating countless hours to improving the lives of those within the community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that by passage of this resolution, the County Board herewith makes public its recognition of dedicated service to the citizens of the county and expresses its heartfelt sympathy to her family and friends and especially her husband Ron and children Dirk, David, Beth, and Andy. Be it further resolved that the clerk be directed to forward this copy of the resolution to Ron, Dirk, David, Beth, and Andy. Respectfully submitted this 19th day of May, 2026. Ron, will you want to come forward, please? >> My kids You got to finish like the same cuz I didn't have a lot of shoes that busy. >> [laughter] >> Nothing perfect for >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Our sincerest condolences. >> County Board Supervisors, please stand for a county vote on this resolution. Honorably passed. >> Thank you. >> First >> I'm up again. >> Resolution number two Mr. Clerk honoring the life of former County Board Supervisor Clifford Oddie. Whereas County Board Supervisor Clifford Oddie passed away in April 11th, 2026 and whereas Mr. Oddie was first elected to the County Board in 1982 and served on the Resources Committee from 1982 to 1984 and the Highway Committee as secretary from 1984 to 1986 vice chairperson from 1986 to 1990 and Chairperson from 1990 to 1992. And whereas along with the service to Sheboygan County, Mr. Aty was active with the town of Sheboygan Falls Cooperative Board, Sheboygan Falls School Board and was the supervisor and clerk for town of Sheboygan Falls. And whereas Mr. Aty also previously served as the Wisconsin State Senate Representative for District 27 from 1993 to 1999. And whereas Mr. Aty will be remembered for his strong work ethic and his everlasting commitment to the people within the community. Now therefore be it resolved that by passage of this resolution, the County Board herewith makes public its recognition of Mr. Aty's dedicated service to the citizens of the county and expresses its heartfelt sympathy to the family and friends and especially his children, Gregory, Timothy, Bruce, Brian, Barbara, and Charles. Be it therefore re- solved that the clerk be directed to forward a copy of this resolution to Greg, Timothy, Bruce, Brian, Barbara, and Charles. Respectfully commit uh submitted this 19th day of May, 2026. I think we have some family members come forward, please. >> Stupid. Hey. Stupid, please. Come on, come forward. We don't have all the time. This Who I got the resolution there. I'll sign. You can do it right there. Stand and touch it. >> Um on behalf of my dad's family, the Clifford Aty we just want to say thank you for this. Our dad was proud and humbled to serve on the county board and all of the boards that he served on. He tried to make a difference and do what was right for the constituents that he served. And uh he always [clears throat] tried to serve in the best way that he could. And we thank you for this and we are honored and uh appreciate it. >> For resolution two, we assume to please rise for a silent vote on approval. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we move on in the agenda to approval of the April 28th journal. Entertain a motion. Supervisor Ellis Motion by Okay, Henry. All right, motion has been made and seconded for approval of the April 20th journal. Are there any questions or comments? Hearing none, let's vote. Supervisor Wagner >> Yes. >> Thank you. That's approved unanimously. Thank you. Next on our agenda is consideration of appointments by the chairperson. Affirmative Action Commission, Charlotte Nennig. Airport Advisory Committee, John Kulo and Jackie Veldman. And Swan Dunes Advisory Committee, Tom Wagner, Kurt Bauer, Rebecca Clark, David Audi. Bay Lakes Regional Planning Commission, Rebecca Clark, Drew Phillips. Communications Council, John Kulo. Emergency Medical Services Council, Charlotte Nennig. Land Information Council, Marilyn Montemayor. Little Elkhart Lake Rehabilitation District Board of Commissioners, John Nelson. Local Emergency Planning Committee, Charlotte Nennig. Traffic Safety Commission, Gerald Jorgenson. Transportation Coordinating Committee, Kurt Johnson and Thomas Wegner. >> Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Entertain a motion, Supervisor Gearing. Thank you. Supervisor Koch. >> I would support that motion. >> Motion's been made and seconded supported for approval of the appointments by the chairperson. Are there any discussion, questions, comments? Hearing none, please vote. Supervisor Wegner. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Those named >> Hi. >> Oh, is that Supervisor Clark? You're on now. >> It is. Yes, thank you. >> Thank you. >> And Schubert is on as well. >> Oh. All right. >> Yes, and [laughter] I'm a and I as well. And for the previous uh motion, I was here for that as well. >> Thank you for chiming in. Hi. That motion's approved unanimously. >> Thank you. Now consideration of appointments by the county administrator. To Affirmative Action Commission, Ariel Robles, David Loomis. Communications Council, Matt Greenwood, Brian Olson, Jay Schneeberger, Michael Brun Greaber, and Brian Umble. Emergency Medical Services Council, Joel Ermanski, Dan Altis, Holly Parker, and McGlinn. Michael Lubert, Tyler Westenhagen, Steve Green, Land Information Council, Eric Zenko, Scott Schreiber, Traffic Safety Commission, Mark or Matt Starker, Michael Meeson, and Sean Slevallo. Transportation Coordinating Committee, Carol Tiesen Kulp, and Treatment Alternatives Diversion Grant Oversight Committee, Morgan Roddy, and Claire Barker. >> Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Uh Supervisor Kutch? >> The motion to support goes >> I like you. >> Supervisor Gruber. >> Motions have been made and seconded for a consideration of the appointments by the County Administrator. Are there any questions anyone has or comments like to be made? Hearing none, please vote. >> Supervisor Clark. >> I. >> Supervisor Schobert. >> I. >> Supervisor Wegner. >> Yes. >> Thank you. And that's also approved unanimously. >> Thank you. Mr. Clerk, are there any presentations tonight? >> There are none. >> And are there any public addresses tonight? >> There are none. >> Any letters, communications, or announcements? >> We have none. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Uh County Administrator's report. County Administrator Kross. >> Okay, good evening, everyone. Um so, as you know, this is the first meeting of the current board term. So, as you can tell from the agenda packet, you don't have any resolutions or ordinances that you'll be considering this evening. And instead, I thought I'd be good to give a few updates on some recent events um that have been happening in the county. So, while the clerk pulls up the PowerPoint, um I've got some fun pictures, so I wanted to wait until she had that up so you guys could see. Um so, first I'm going to start by covering our recent tree sale. This is something that the planning and conservation department does on annual basis, and this year's annual tree sale just concluded. This year we had about a thousand orders, and we sold 70,000 trees, which is about a typical year for us. However, this year we were in the new building for the first time in the new household hazardous waste building that was constructed behind the ADRC in Sheboygan Falls. So, you can see a few pictures here. Um the photo on the left is how the trees arrived to us from the nursery, and then staff have to go through and put all the orders together. And then on the right-hand side, you can see all the orders sitting there bagged and and ready for people to come and pick them up. So, with this new building, you can see they can drive right through. And if you haven't been out to see the building, this um these pictures don't do it justice. That a large overhead door uh semi is fit through there, so it's a a large building to give you the magnitude of how many orders and how many trees were in there, and it worked really well, and we heard a lot of positive comments from folks who came through. Um in addition, now that the tree sale is done, the household hazardous waste collections have begun. And in fact, this morning was the first um pickup. So, folks have to register ahead of time, and so we had our first household hazardous waste actually drop-off, I should say, uh that occurred this morning. So, if you guys are cleaning out your basements or your garages this spring, please keep this in mind, and remember that you have to register ahead of time so we know how many folks are coming and we can prepare in advance. In addition, we also recently hosted Youth Government Day. This is a partnership that we do along with the UW Extension and it brings local high school students into our buildings to learn more about county government and what it is that all of our employees are doing on a on a regular basis. So, we had Youth Government Day over two different days and we had approximately different students from three different high schools that joined us. And pictured here, you can see them meeting with some of our department heads and they are playing a simulation of Game of Life as our Clark Can a test. So, it's a a fun way for them to get to know things about vital records and owning property and make it more tangible and realistic and fun for the high schoolers. Um in addition, here a couple more photos. You might recognize photo on the left. Uh I hope you don't mind, but you had some students who borrowed your chairs for a little bit of time and they went through a mock county board meeting and also they met in one of the courtrooms and did a mock trial. So, trying to give them some of that hands-on experience. In addition, they also heard from our sheriff, our medical examiner, district attorney. Um in total uh 13 different departments that they were exposed to. In addition, our chair and vice chair also gave some remarks on what it is that the county board does to give them some exposure to local government and what it's like to be an elected official. So, it was a really busy day for those students and we heard a lot of positive comments both from the students and the teachers and we hope to expand the program next year. Our 2027 budget is underway. We have been working on this um for the last couple of months already behind the scenes and so myself along with the finance director and the deputy administrator have been putting together our preliminary estimates and assumptions and starting to put together the building blocks of what the budget will look like. As is the case in most years, we are anticipating challenges related to increased demands for services, rising costs, and then limited revenue. So, it will be a challenge, as always, but as we have a history of doing so, I am confident that we will be able to work together to come forward with a balanced budget that is responsible for our taxpayers and serves our residents. And then last but not least, just this morning, this is hot off the press, we gathered at our InHealth Center to have a ribbon cutting to celebrate our new medical provider. And I want to thank Supervisors Nenning and Ellis who joined us this morning for the event. This was to celebrate QuadMed joining us. And for those of you who are less familiar, the InHealth Center supports the employees of the county, the Sheboygan Area School District, the City of Sheboygan, and most recently the Town of Sheboygan also joined in that partnership. The three entities that started it, being the city, the school district, and the county, we've had this partnership for about 20 years, and it's been very successful. And most recently the town joined us. And this clinic offers us the ability to provide high-quality care to our employees and those who are on our health plan, and then also reduce the out-of-pocket costs for the employees and reduce the costs to the county. So, it is really a win-win-win, and we're so thankful to be able to have this facility and welcome our new partner, QuadMed, and we look forward to many more years of successful partnership. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Administrator Krost. I'll turn the gavel over to Vice Chair Brower. >> Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Resolutions introduced, resolution number three. From Finance Committee regarding authorizing the Finance Committee and Finance Director to balance over budget departmental accounts. That will be referred to the Executive Committee. Resolutions introduced. Resolution number four from the Law Committee regarding authorizing application for fiscal year 2026 Justice Assistance Grant Program Award and entering into memorandum of understanding with the city of Sheboygan. That will be referred to the Finance Committee. There are no ordinances introduced. Next item on the agenda is adjournment. Pursuant to County Board Rule 2.01, the Sheboygan County Chair determined that it is appropriate to alter the meeting location in June, July, and August of 2026 to the Sheboygan County Administration Building at 508 New York Avenue, Conference Room 302, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. That being said, Supervisor Gearing, would you please help me out? When I'm with adjournment, I thank you. Supervisor Gearing? Supervisor Otti? Thank you, Supervisor Otti. Please vote for adjournment. Supervisor Sieberth? Aye. Supervisor Clark? Aye. Supervisor Wagner? Yes. Thank you. Mary Jean? >> [music]