County board OKs administrative coordinator plan

Taylor County took the first big step forward in moving toward a more formalized day-to-day management structure.

On Tuesday, members of the county board approved a resolution for the administrative coordinator/human resources director position with a formal job description for the expanded role to be brought back to the full county board for approval at the June meeting.

The administrative ad hoc committee has been meeting for the past few months and recently talked with representatives from Vernon and Price counties about their management structure and the transition to get to where they are today. From that meeting, committee members recommended moving forward with an empowered administrative coordinator and keeping the position shared with the county human resources director.

Board member Mike Bub explained that in looking at the different roles, this was seen as a good compromise by giving the current human resources director/ administrative coordinator Nicole Hager more formal authority but not going so far as to the statutorily defined duties and responsibilities laid out for county administrators. Bub noted the intent is to give Hager more authority over department heads to make sure they are following county code.

He cautioned that at this point nothing is cast in concrete and they brought it forward to get the full county board’s approval to move forward with the idea and develop the job description.

“We want to go slowly and do this step by step,” said board member Chuck Zenner. He noted that ideally it would lead to needing fewer meetings of the county’s personnel committee as she would have the authority to do more of those duties on her own.

Not all board members were sold on the idea. Board member Karen Cummings express concern that the county would be creating a lot more work for Hager. “I am afraid you are going to overload her and she is going to quit,” Cummings said.

Board members Scott Mildbrand and Lorie Floyd laid out the committee’s reasoning with keeping it a combined position with administrative coordinator primary. Mildbrand noted that in talking with the Price County administrator, he said about 80% of his job is personnel related and that they are already working to bring additional help into the human resources department without needing more staffing authorizations.

Floyd described the push for more formalized day-today management as being something she feels passionate about. She said that Hager already has the duties of an administrative coordinator, but does not have any authority to go with the title. She said this change would give the position, the authority to handle day-to-day operations and not go fully to an administrator. “I think it is a great compromise,” she said.

By taking it slowly, Bub said, it will give the county board time to decide what is working and where the county needs to bring in more support whether it is in finances or human resources. Board members expressed concern that the job description cannot be overly vague.

Bub said the critical next step will be to work on refining a job description and bringing it back to the county board.

Board member Rollie Thums expressed concern about approving the position ahead of having a job description to look at. Bub said the committee wanted the OK from the county board that this was the direction they wanted to go in.

Thums said his concern centered on if Hager had the authority now ahead of the job description being set. Bub assured him that Hager will not get the authority until after the job description is approved.

On a voice vote board members voted to approve the direction the committee is going in with the continued shared position and to move forward with getting a formal job description written.

Powerline Grants

Taylor County will freeze giving out any more grants from the county’s powerline impact fee fund until after the finance committee crafts new rules about eligibility and the amount groups may seek in funding.

The powerline impact fee is paid from American Transmission Company to the county for the portion of the Arrowhead to Weston transmission line that goes through Taylor County. As part of the agreement, the amount the county receives drops each year with it approaching the time period when the fees paid are dropping relatively quickly.

Under the current rules, groups may make requests for funds in fall and spring with the requests reviewed by the county finance committee and recommendations made to the full county board.

With the number of requests going up at the same time as funds in the account are dropping, Zenner and Mildbrand called for the county to freeze giving out additional grants until fall of 2026. Zenner said his goal would be to keep the fund around as long as possible.

Thums agreed with freezing it to allow funds to build up and said the county needs to rein in how the money has been spent. “We went in every damn direction we could,” he said, noting there has been $400,000 spent on work to county buildings among other things.

He said the county needed a firm set of rules that would say that groups such as school districts would not be eligible to get funds in the future. There was also concern about the need for accountability to ensure the money was spent for what it was granted.

Board member Tim Hansen facetiously suggested the county should just spend down the entire fund and be done with it. He said this would prevent the county from having to worry about it any further. He said any time it comes up it has been a headache.

Bub disagreed saying he believes the program has allowed the county to help do some nice things over the years.

In the end, board members, with Hansen opposed, voted to put a freeze on future grants until after the finance committee establishes new rules for grants.

The action came after the county board reviewed and approved requests for powerline impact fee grants for seven different groups totaling a combined $45,000.

Funds were granted for the following projects: Accessible fishing pier at Lake Kathryn — $5,000 Bleachers and benches at the Gilman Pirate ball fields — $10,000 Furnace and air conditioning work at the Jean M Thomsen Memorial Library in Stetsonville — $5,000.

Discover Wisconsin episode on the Ice Age Trail in Rib Lake — $5,000 Addition to the Gilman Lions Club pavilion in the Gilman Park — $5,000 Batting cages for baseball in Gilman — $5,000 Support for the Rib Lake School District track renovation project — $10,000.

In other business, board members:

• Approved a variety of changes to the rules of the board in Chapter 2 of county code. Changes included eliminating some county committees that rarely, if ever, meet and assigning their duties to other committees, cleaning up the code language to reflect actual processes and who are doing those tasks, and making changes to reflect changes made in the advisory committees for human services. The board shied away from taking up a request to re-combine the finance and personnel committees noting that depending on the outcome of the decision on an administrative coordinator, there may be little need for regular meetings of the personnel committee.

• Approved an ordinance to repeal and recreate the shoreland zoning codes. According to zoning administrator Kyle Noonan, the county is adopting what is essentially the model ordinance created by the DNR to reflect changes in shoreland use on the state level. He said existing shoreland property owners should see very little in the way of changes from the new code. He assured the board that property owners would continue to be allowed to maintain their property and structures and that if those structures are torn down, the owner will be able to rebuild on that footprint.

• Approved a new ordinance updating speed zones on county roads around the county. While some of the changes are due to safety concerns from residents and municipalities, others were to bring the county in line with state speed limit regulations.

Michelle Kurth (left), former director of the county’s child support agency was presented a plaque for her retirement after 41 years with the county from Taylor County board chair Jim Metz. BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS

Art Lersch (left), Area Three Extension Director who oversaw the UW-Extension activities in Langlade, Lincoln, Price and Taylor counties received a retirement plaque from Taylor County board chair Jim Metz. BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS