Waupaca County

Legislative, Judicial, Ethics, Safety & Security Committee

August 14, 2013

Chr. Kussmann called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. and gave the open meeting statement.

Roll call:  Dennis Kussmann, Mary Kay Poehlman, Dave Neumann, Dona Gabert and Terry Murphy.  A quorum was established.  Others present:   Corporation Counsel Jeff Siewert, Judge John Hoffmann, Judge Raymond Huber, Terrie Tews-Liebe and County Clerk/Admin. Coordinator Mary Robbins.

Agenda: Motion:  Supr. Gabert and Supr. T. Murphy seconded the motion to approve the agenda.  The motion was carried without a negative vote.

Minutes of previous meeting – July 10, 2013. Motion:  Supr. Poehlman moved and Supr. Neumann seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting. The motion was carried without a negative vote.

Public Comment – No comments

Judicial Circuit Courts – Judge John Hoffmann and Judge Raymond Huber – 2014 Budget.

Judge Hoffmann relayed that the amount of the State Court Grant is unknown at this time, it is projected to stay the same, but here are never any guarantees.  The total budget increase is .58%.   Discussion on video conferencing, the system they have is over 14 years old and it does not work properly.  They have contacted FVTC in Waupaca to set up the capability to hold their video conference with a prisoner that is located in Oklahoma.  It will cost $170.00 per hour, should only be 3 to 4 hours.

Motion:  Supr.  Poehlman moved and Supr. Neumann seconded the motion to approve and forward this budget to the Finance-Human Resource Committee.  Motion carried without a negative vote.

Clerk of Circuit Courts Terrie Tews-Liebe.  Terrie explained that they have been putting the video conferencing for all 3 branches of court for approximately $20 to $50,000, but every time the cutting begins, this is one of the projects that gets cut or postponed.  Capital Improvement Projects for major upgrade in the court rooms, no changes since 1990.  She has been leasing a lot of her office equipment; you will see an increase of $5,000 in that line item.  This budget has a net levy increase of 7.28%, expenses up by 2.72% and revenues down by .5%.  Motion:  Supr. Poehlman moved and Supr. Gabert seconded the motion to approve this budget and forward to the Finance-HR Committee.  Motion carried without a negative vote.

Corporation Counsel Jeff Siewert.  Monthly report was distributed to all committee members. 

Jeff presented the Corporation Counsel/Child Support 2014 Budget at a 0.00% net levy increase.  He is requesting from capital outlay the purchase of new blinds for their windows.  The estimate they received was $1,974.00 from Stu’s of Waupaca.  These are the same blinds that the Clerk of Circuit Court had installed. We will check with Public Property Committee to see if they could purchase the blinds from their budget.  Motion:  Supr. Poehlman moved and Supr. Gabert seconded the motion to approve this budget and to forward this on to the Finance-HR Committee for further review.  Motion carried without a negative vote.

District Attorney Report.  John Snider was not available but he sent his budget along.  A 2.35% net levy increase.  Motion:  Supr. Neumann moved and Supr. T. Murphy seconded the motion to approve the District Attorney’s budget and forward to the Finance-HR Committee.  Motion carried without a negative vote.

Resolutions, Ordinances or Correspondence. 

Resolution No. 18 – Farmland Preservation Grant authorization.  This was for informational purposes only; it has been approved by the Planning and Zoning Committee and will go to County Board this month.

Resolution No. 18, Amend Ch. 45 of the Comprehensive Plan.  Ryan Brown, Planning & Zoning Director was present.  Mr. Brown was requesting that these types of amendments to ordinances do go through an extensive process and would like to be able to bypass this committee due to the extreme number of them that will be sent to both P&Z Committee, which hold public hearings as do the townships and always to County Board.

Motion:  Supr. Gabert moved and Supr. Poehlman seconded the motion to approve this resolution and to exempt these types of resolutions that are tied to an ordinance amendment for Planning and Zoning.  The motion carried without a negative vote.

Review Ordinances:  No ordinances this month.

Adjourn.  Motion:  Supr. T. Murphy moved and Supr. Neumann seconded the motion to adjourn the meeting at 2:40 p.m.  Chr. Kussmann declared the meeting adjourned.

Mary Robbins

County Clerk