Shaking things up

County committees will see changes following special election results

There will be different faces on several county committees as the result of voters choosing Bud Suckow to replace Lester Lewis in last month’s special election for Supervisor District No. 13.

Suckow formally took office on Tuesday, Aug. 1. On Friday, July 28, members of the county’s committee on committees and rules met to determine what committees Suckow will serve on and who should fill vacant spots on the committees where Lewis had served.

As an added wrinkle, under county code positions such as being chair of the law enforcement committee put whoever is in that position also serving on the county’s finance and personnel committee. There was also discussion about the potential to eliminate some committees such as the Private Onsite Wastewater Treatment which reviews See COUNTY on page 4 loan requests for people seeking to repair failing systems. The county had set aside funds for the program, but low usage of the program has raised questions about if it is still needed.

For the law enforcement and emergency services committee, the rules committee tapped Lynn Rosemeyer to be the new chairperson. Rosemeyer has previously not served on law enforcement and was elected to the board in 2021 from the Gilman area. As chair of law enforcement, Rosemeyer would also gain a seat on the county’s finance and personnel committee.

For zoning, committee members proposed moving Jim Gebauer to chairman and then shifting Rollie Thums from the Veterans Service committee to the zoning committee to fill the vacancy left from Lewis’ departure.

Committee chairman Chuck Zenner said he favored this plan because it would open up a seat on the Veterans Service Committee for Suckow to be assigned to that committee.

This keeps with the county board’s historical practice of giving preference to board members who are military veterans to serve on the veterans service committee. The recall election which saw Suckow elected, was triggered largely due to public disagreement over the county’s handling of personnel issues in the veterans service office which led to the resignations of two veterans service officers and a benefits specialist in under a year.

Committee member Scott Mildbrand noted there are newer board members that are deserving to move up into more committees. There is also a desire to even out committee appointments more among members. With Rosemeyer taking on two new appointments, she will