County Board - Regular Meeting

Uh, good evening. The May 12th, 2026 Racing County Public Works Park and Facilities Committee meeting is hereby called to order. My name is Ernie Rossi. I'm the chairman of the committee. Due notice of this meeting has been given and the open meeting law requirements have been met. Um committee members present tonight include Supervisor Wishaw, Horman, um Barther and Weatherston. Uh county staff presentations tonight include Raleigh Bem, Patrice Bernett, uh Shannon Kurt, and actually not Kim and not Patrice. We'll strike that. Um tonight we have members of the Raine County. No,

we Oh, we do. We Sorry about that then. Um, we I don't know if the youth and governance members made it down tonight. So, we do not have youth and governance and Yes.

Yes. All right. So, they will be at the next meeting Thursday. Um, please do not speak unless you are recognized by the chair. Also, please silence your cell phones. This meeting is being livereamed. Thank you. And we'll now begin the meeting. No public comments and uh don't believe we have any. Um next review discussion possible action regarding resolution number 2026-7 authorizing the conveyance of county owned land by permanent utility easement to Wii Energies for the installation and maintenance of utilities for the BHS building on Taylor Avenue. And there's the request for first and second reading of the county board on May 12th, 2026. So that'll be tonight. Director Beam.

Uh yes, Mr. Chair. This this resolution is piggybacking off of 20 2025-29 uh where we previously uh had an easement um and approved it for the behavioral health building. Uh and basically what happened is we had there was a footing that the utility company hit. So we had to expand that easement another 20 ft over. And this is but this is just reflecting that 20 foot expansion of that easement on the onsite of the property. Thank you. Um questions? Any looking for a motion? Motion to approve is submitted. Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and second to um I'll tailor that a little bit more to send this to the county board tonight for first and second reading. Um discussion. All right. All those in favor say I. I. I.

All those opposed say no. The eyes have it. So passed. Um the next item is um on the agenda for first and second reading as well. Um the item four is review and discussion a review discussion possible action regarding resolution number 2026-8 authorizing the conveyance of county owned land by permanent utility easement to WI energies for the installation and maintenance of underground utilities at 16116 Washington for the sheriff's patrol station expansion. Again first and second reading being requested for tonight. Director B.

Uh yes, Mr. Chair. This is also an easement. This is for AT&T and Wii Energies. Uh this easement is a brand new easement that's going to be coming off for the public safety building and this is going to be coming off, you look at the map, off Greenmont Drive and it's going to be uh basically heading and servicing the entire building. There's a couple zigzags in there because I know that they're going to be dodging some utilities that are already in place. But this is another I guess another straightforward easement for utilities that we have

or corporation council. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Raleigh, I just wanted to note for the record, and forgive me if if I'm mistaken on this, but uh the agenda reflects a first and second reading for this item. It's my understanding that so long as this is authorized by the end of the month, that that would align with align with schedules. Um and so I don't know that first and second reading is technically needed this evening. uh we could do the first reading and then the second reading at that May 26th meeting, but I'm not sure if if you have more recent information that suggests that it should follow that closer track. I I don't I I guess it was could have been a mistaken on our end that we put it for both of them, but certainly we can do this as just first reading.

Um I see that we have a chief deputy widner in attendance. If if you're aware of any uh reason to expedite the utility easement for this particular item. If not, we'll most likely then thank you. Um, Chief Deputy, just for the record, Chief Deputy Widner said he's not aware of any reason. So, with that, then we'll just look for first reading tonight. Looking for a motion. Motion to approve as submitted. Second. All right. Thank you. We have a motion and a second to um approve and send this to the county board for first reading tonight, May 12th, 2026. discussion. All right. All those in favor say I.

I. All those opposed say no. You guys have it. So passed.

Um next item um five and six. I'd like to take these as a we'll take these votes together. They're essentially very similar items. We're back at easements again. So um if any of anyone have any issue with taking them at the same time, we'll vote the same. Okay. Thank you. Um five, review discussion and possible action regarding resolution 2026-9 authorizing the conveyance of county managed land known as the White River State Trail by permanent easement for the construction, operations, and maintenance of an above ground high voltage electrical transmission line. Uh requesting first reading of the county board on May 12th, 2026.

Uh Mr. Chair, this is a easement for ATC. We see these actually quite often the past few years. This is crossing the White River Trail. Although we do not own the trail, we are the managers of the trail. And so basically, there's a DNR owns it. We manage it. This is our consent that I guess we're okay with that easement. We're not technically approving the easement on this, but I guess our acknowledgement that it is not going to hinder our management of the trail itself. So, is there any additional comment? No, Shannon's up here for the next one. All right. Thank you, Shannon. Um questions, comments, or I'm looking for a motion. Motion to approve.

All right, we have a motion and a second um to approve the easement by sending it to the county board for first reading tonight uh May 12th, 2026. Discussion. All right. All in favor uh say I. I. Oppose say no.

As have it. So passed. Oh, excuse me. We were going to do those as two. So, I overrode my own uh request there. Forgive me. Um, item six, review discussion and possible action on resolution number 2026-10 authorizing acquisition of right of way for a highway improvement project on county highway C requesting first reading at the county board meeting May 12th, 2026. Director Beam and Shannon,

this is for the uh purchase of right ofway for the signals and sidewalk in front of All Saints on Highway C. Um there is fee and a temporary um easement for just grading to make sure that the slopes are correct after we are done with the purchase.

Thank you Shannon. There was a discussion before this where Shannon went much uh more deeply into the differences between the types of acquisitions and then temporary easements that were happening on this project. Um so thank you for that Shannon. Um any questions on this particular item? All right, I'll be looking for a motion. Motion to approve is submitted. Second. Right. We have a first and a second to um approve as submitted and send this to the county board for first reading on May 12th, 2026. Discussion. All right. All those in favor say I. I.

I. Post say no. And the eyes have it. So passed. U miscellaneous business. I do not believe we ended up with any referrals tonight. That'll be Thursday. Correct. Correct. All right. So then the next meeting of the public works parts and facil facilities committee will be Thursday, May 14th, 2026 at 5:00 p. p.m. Looking for a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. With that, we're adjourned.

the opening prayer. Supervisor Coleman is going to do that tonight. Father God, we come to you as humbly as we know how simply to say thank you for watching over us and keeping us in the land of the living. God, as we continue through these unparalleled times, we ask for your covering, guidance, wisdom, strength, and courage to be able to endure. God, as supervisors, we ask that you truly help us make the right decisions and do right by all people and move forward to a better county. God, we ask you to forgive us for all mistakes and transgressions and help us to be better. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.

And now the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. It's all yours, county executive. Good evening. Earlier today, by mistake, my speech was sent out. So, if you read it, I'm I changed it. I ran it through chat and it boiled it down to this. And because of brevity, I really liked it. It basically says, "The countyy's in decent shape. We've got work to do. See you next year." Just kidding. You're going to have to listen to the whole thing. So, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Vice Chairman, County Board, distinguished guest, and residents of Rine County. Good evening. Last year, I stood here for the first time as your county executive and said two words very important to me. Be better. Not a complicated idea. We're not perfect and we never will be, but we can always do better. That's how I ran my business and how I'm trying to run this county.

A year ago, I was still learning the job and said as much at the time. Tonight feels different. I know you and I know the county government much better and have a clearer picture of what we need to do and how we're going to get there. So, tonight I want to talk about what's happening and where we go from here. I'll be brief on finances because the numbers speak for themselves, but I want to be clear about what they mean. The mill rate has decreased for the 12th consecutive year. We carry a double A bond rating. Our general fund balance sits at nearly 22 million, 19% of our operating budget, right where it should be. Last year, human services came in 3.2 2 million under budget and the general fund came in another 1.7 million under budget. That money goes back into our contingent funds. That's what fiscal discipline looks like. This is all the result of deliberate decisions about how to manage taxpayer money. decision decisions that sometimes require saying no and sometimes absorbent criticism for saying yes. I came from the private sector and I'll tell you what I know. Sound finances aren't political talking points. They're what makes everything else possible. I also want to address something directly. There's been judgment of our spending. I've heard it and I've read it. Scrutiny of how public dollars are spent is appropriate. That's how government should work. But when when you look at the full picture, this is a fiscally sound county finally addressing problems that have been

deferred for too long. When I stepped into this role, I found many what I refer to as coal patch solutions. temporary fixes applied to long-term challenges. That is not a criticism of prior decisions. Those approaches worked at the time until they no longer did. That turning point came around 2018 and many of you were directly involved in the con conversations and decisions that make made the county sales tax in 2024. County Executive Delgrave was central to that work and what came next reflects his vision. Jonathan helped position the county for more meaningful transformational capital investments largely supported by outside funding. These investments address critical needs. An endof life radio system relied upon by first responders, a public safety building that could not be rehabilitated, and a fragmented lease mental health facility where decades of rent would exceed the cost of building a new consolidated space. These were necessary investments and have been made without compromising our fiscal position. As I review our broader deferred maintenance portfolio, I am mindful and appreciative that this ground groundwork has already been laid. I brought a set of private se sector disciplines to this team early on, particularly around centralized purchasing, strategic asset planning. These were areas I saw opportunities to improve. We've since implemented quarterly reporting to the county board on capital

projects, ensuring transparency and accountability. We are also advancing a comprehensive facilities and space utilization plan. This work is focused on understanding what we own where future investments and consolidation make the most sense. Good roads and infrastructure matter to every resident business. Last year, our public works team resurfaced county highways, reconstructed intersections for safer traffic flow, and replaced coverts that had been deferred for years. One resurfacing project, Highway T, came in at more than $250,000 under budget. Looking ahead, we have reconstruction and resurfacing projects planned this summer on County Highway CG. continuing the work of maintaining a county road system that supports economic growth along our corridors. Good infrastructure also includes our county parks. At Corey Lake, we completed a significant improvement project, regrading the terrain to improve storm water runoff and creating a new ADA compliant beach so every resident can access one of the county's most beloved parks. We're also doing long-term planning work that often goes unnoticed. Our development services team is partnering with sewer and local municipalities to update Ring County's comprehensive plan through 20150 which will cover housing, transportation, land use and economic development. That kind of planning will help make good decision good decisions years from now instead of scrambling to catch up.

I want to thank Raleigh Beam, our director of public works and development services and his entire team for the work they do keeping this county going, often with little recognition and always under budget pressures. We will also continue the budget vision session as a standard practice. I'm thinking on a bianual basis. This creates an opportunity to share information early on with the board on our county's financial direction. That's how you make better decisions together and before the budget is already written. At the end of the day, Rene County serves its people. That sounds pretty obvious. But it's easy to lose sight of in the daytoday work when I think about decisions we've made this year. That's the question I keep coming back to. Are we serving people better than we were before? One of the things I'm very focused on in in this in the Rine County is the Rine County Intergovernmental Cooperation Council or RCIC. 17 municipalities in this county means 17 budgets and 17 sets of financial challenges. Many of them identical. For too long, we've been solving pro solving the same problems separately, paying separately, bidding separately, but the math always shows we're better off working together. Last year I talked about building that collaboration. This year I can show you what it looks like. Sturdivan came to us about taking over their law enforcement services. We stepped in as the sheriff's office has that expertise

and we now have a contract in place. That's a community leveraging the preparedness of the county to best serve its residents. Through RCIC, we're building formal consortium models, that is structured ways for municipalities to pull purchases and services jointly. What this means is smaller communities get access to things they couldn't afford on their own. Taxpayers across the county stop paying full price for the same thing 17 times over. That's what economies of scale look like in local government. This is work that will save us real money in the years to come. We're building the structure to make it sustainable. Rene County is the place where businesses choose to invest and grow, reflecting how the county prioritizes our local businesses. Ray, RCEDC, and our municipal partners deserve credit for that. We must continue to support strong business environments where companies can find a a reliable public partner. Serving our businesses means recognizing their success is directly tied to the economic health of our county and region. Kadali America, a global supplier of electric vehicle battery components, announced a $72 million investment to establish its first US manufacturing facility right here in Mount Pleasant. Educators Credit Union opened its new 42,000 foot headquarters along I94. CH Industrial, a company with Rutsson Richen County going back more than 180

years, recently expanded its presence by relocating 230 employees to a newly acquired facility in Waterford. and four Rene County construction projects, which you're well aware of, were just named finalists for the Milwaukee Business Journalist 2026 Real Estate Awards, including the Jonathan Degrave Youth Development and Care Center. And then there's Microsoft. What began as a $1 billion data center campus in Mount Pleasant has grown more to more than 7 billion with 15 additional data centers recently approved and construction actively underway. When fully built out, the Microsoft campus alone is projected to generate more than $76 million in annual property tax revenue. Eventually, this site will exceed the total equalized value of everything else in Mount Pleasant combined. Think about that for a minute. Microsoft is already on track to become Rine County's single largest taxpayer this year. That is generational money for this county. The question we must now answer together is whether we're building a community where people who work here can afford to live here. Right now, that answer is no. And that is absolutely unsustainable. From 2010 to 2024, Rashine County added more than 6,000 jobs, but our population only grew by 550 people. Over the next decade, we're seeing in Kenosha counties are projected

to add nearly 20,000 more jobs, but our working population is shrinking. Almost two in five of our residents are projected to be over 55 by 2040. Think about that. We need more than 4,200 new homes in the next 5 years, but are not building anywhere close to that. workers who want to come here can't find a place to live at a price they can afford. This is an urgent call to action for the long-term health of this county. Last year, I said this needed attention and we form a work group. We are doing much more than that. Last month, I convened local leaders and national experts at a community housing event to dig into this directly. Financing gaps, zoning barriers, the shortage of shovel ready sites, and what other communities have done that works. I want to thank the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread for hosting and RCEDC for their partnership. As a result, I launched a countywide housing work group which is already underway. We just had a meeting upstairs earlier today with one group. By the end of this year, this group will deliver a concrete action plan with a focus on starter home development and closing the gap between what families can afford and what the market is building. And we'll bring that for plan forward to the county board alongside chairman Kramer. That's a real commitment with a real deadline for and deliverables for Riching County. We also took a significant step in how

we coordinate services for residents experiencing homelessness in Rine County. Rine County is formalizing its role as the lead collaborative collaborative applicant for our local continuum of care. The federal federally recognized system that connects shelter and housing resources for people in crisis. The goal is to make sure every dollar around This important issue is pulling in the same direction. The people served by this system are our neighbors and in many cases people research serves in other ways. Veterans, families with young children, young people who aged out of systems that's that once protected them. Justice involved youth, survivors of domestic abuse. and people with mental health and substance use challenges. Too often, these same individuals are touching multiple county systems without those systems talking to each other. What's challenging is that the county is now at the table in a more coordinated and accountable way, working alongside our nonprofit partners to make sure every dollar we spend on these residents is working as hard as it can. I want to thank human service director Hope Otto for the work she's done to make this happen. that population over overlaps significantly with the people our behavioral health system team works with every day. I want to recognize Yelna Jones, our administrator of aging and disability services for the work she leads. And through Wellness Connect, Rine

County has a single coordinated point for anyone seeking mental health, substance use, or crisis support. One call with no wrong doors. Our data shows this coordinated approach has already generated more than $600,000 in cost savings by PE by getting people to the right care faster and reducing unnecessary emergency interventions. And later this year, we will open a new behavioral health building on Taylor Avenue. For the first time, Rine County will have a residential substance use treatment program at home. Right now, this is hard to believe, but right now there are no residential programs within 40 miles of the county. At any given moment, residents need that level of immediate care without anywhere local to go. That ends this year. No one should have to leave their community to get help. And thanks to the work of Rashine County, they won't have to to deliver on the commitments I've described tonight, shared services, consortium models, and housing work groups. We need the organized capacity to manage them well. As we look ahead, I am evaluating how our administrative structure can better support that work, including how we staff for continuity and coord coordination across county functions. I want to be thoughtful about this and work closely with the county board before bringing anything forward. But I want to be transparent that this is something I'm actively thinking about

because getting the structure right is what makes the work sustainable. Last year I shared we would pursue a comprehensive compensation study. I want to tell you what came of it. But first, thank you to our HR director Sarah Street and finance director Gwen Zimmer for making all of this possible. The study confirmed that many of our pay ranges were no longer aligned with today's labor market. We had six six separate pay schedules that didn't connect to each other. And we must also remember that most of our employees are rine county residents. When we underinvest in them, we underinvest in our own people. I mentioned cold patch earlier. The compensation structure was just another version of of the same problem. For years, counties across Wisconsin, including ours, made reactive peacemeal adjustments to address the most urgent pressures in front of them. That's what the situation allowed. But over time, those patches eroded and Reine County fell behind a competitive labor market that kept moving forward. This year, the county board approved a new single countywide compensation structure, one system designed to create consistency, support internal alignment, and reflect the current market. And we're already seeing what happens when we get this right. Our 911 communications center and jail division, two of the most demanding 247 operations in county government are at their highest staffing levels since 2019.

Thanks to our ARPA investment in these essential employees. When I stop by new employee orientation on Monday mornings, which I try to do every week, I miss this week. Just full disclosure. I want our employees to know from day one that this county values them. When employees are supported and stable, services are better and our residents feel it. That's what a workplace of choice means. We funded it and the county board made it happen. Before I close, I want to take a moment to recognize people who make Rine County stronger through how they show up and the work they do every day. Tonight, I'm proud to present three community impact awards. Our first award goes to a good friend of mine, Beth Hydorn, executive director of the Racine Zoo. Beth and I have known each other for years and I can tell you that what you see is what you get. She cares deeply about this community and is one of the best leaders I know. She's been executive director of the Rine Zoo for more than a decade. Coming to Rene after leadership roles in San Diego and Miami. Under her watch, the zoo has maintained its association of zoos and aquariums accreditation and welcomes more than 100,000 visitors each year. Through the zoo's outreach program, Beth and her team bring live animals and conservation education directly into schools and community events across the county because she understands that not

everyone can make it to the zoo. She built in the Marorp program in partnership with Rine County school districts to bring environmental and wildlife education directly to students. When federal funding for that program was recently cut in typical Beth fashion, her response was straightforward. We're going to keep fighting beyond the zoo. Beth is one of the biggest ambassadors for Rine County that I know. She's an official greeter, a greater Rine County ambassador, and she earns that title every day. She's on TV almost every morning, I think, and not for anything bad. From local radio and TV appearances to our most recent Discover Wisconsin episode, she promotes this county every chance she gets. Beth also made Rine County her home after a career that took her all over the country. That means something. Beth, could you come up here and get your award? And thank you. Still Our

second award goes to, are you ready for this? Mayor of the Loop, also known as Bernard Peterson, owner of the Runaway Micro Pub in Nanover in Burlington. Bernard and his wife Michelle are Burlington people. They bought their building on Chestnut Street, opened the runaway during the pandemic doing curbside service, and I can tell you running a retail business during the pandemic is was not easy. and committing to their community when the timing couldn't have been harder and have been building on that block ever since. Bernard is a true brew master, making small batch beer with locally sourced ingredients and a familyfriendly atmosphere he and Michelle have always believed in for Burlington. Since then, the Runaway has become an anchor business for downtown Burlington. Bernard hosts live music every week, partnered with a local musician to create the Aspiring Musicians Fund, and help local people build careers in music and organizes Loop Day, an annual street festival that revives Burlington's tradition tradition of closing the downtown loop for a community celebration. He since purchased the building next door and is expanding the runaway's footprint. Burlington is more vibrant because of what Bernard and Michelle have built. And if you get a chance, watch his social media presence right now because what he's doing while there's road construction in front of his place, I am so sad that I didn't think of when I was on Washington Avenue. So, Bernard, thank you. Come on up and get your

Yeah. It's small businesses like that that are the backbone of Versin County. Our third and final award goes to a very good friend of mine, Art Hall. Most people in this room know Art has received police chief, the first African-American to hold that position. A man who spent nearly four decades in uniform, who helped bring crime to historic lows and expanded community oriented policing into a model that others came to study. When he retired in 2021, Jonathan Delgra said he would undoubtedly go down as one of the finest community leaders Rine County has ever seen. Jonathan was right and I don't say that lightly. Art retired four years ago and hasn't slowed down once. And it's what Art continues to do even after retiring that explains why he's standing here tonight. He looked at Rine's young people who needed someone to show up for them and found new ways to do it. He success successfully secured a grant from the United Way of Rine County using those funds to build a recording studio studio at Rine Alternative Learning and has become its project manager. He shows up because he knows what happens when we don't invest in young people. He said it himself. He's seen the other side throughout his career. And now he's bringing the same energy to the Jonathan and Delgrave Youth

Development Fair Center where a recording studio sits at the heart of a facility built on the belief that young people in the justice system deserve a second chance. Art has also served on the board of the Rinount Community Foundation for nearly three decades. a relationship that began in 1995 when as a planning sergeant he wrote a grant to fund the city's first newly constructed cop house. He has served as board chair of both United Way and Halo. Art Ring County is a better place because of you. On behalf of a grateful county, we thankful we we thank you. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. And and I'll tell you this since artist accepted his award already and I gave it to him that I am very proud to be the only person to ever have broken into the recine police chief's office successfully under Arts Watch. I'll tell you that story sometime.

Before I close the awards portion of tonight's program, I want to do something we've never done before at a state of the county address. Tonight, Rine County presents its first ever lifetime achievement award. Sheriff Chris Schmeing joined the Rine County Sheriff's Office as a deputy in 1995. He was elected sheriff in 2010, the youngest person ever to hold that office in this countyy's history. From there, he was reelected four times. When he retires at the end of this year, he will close out nearly 32 years with the same office where he started as a young deputy, making him the longest serving sheriff in Rine County history. Those years of service are impressive, but don't tell the full story. Chris has always fought to protect our residents. He enhanced the metro drug unit to go after drug distribution networks. He put Narcan in every squad car and in the jail. He hosted opioid summits and community listening sessions across the county. He expanded medication dropoff locations so residents could safely dispose of unused prescriptions before they ended up on the street. He created the first ever reserve deputy program and he invested in cutting edge technology throughout the department from full body scanners in the jail to body cameras that activate the moment a weapon is drawn because transparency and officer safety go hand in hand. His commitment to protecting our residents even took him to Washington where he testified before

the US Senate to advocate for domestic domestic violence victims. He told the Senate that Rine County was the first in Wisconsin with a full-time domestic violence specialist and that keeping guns out of the hands of abusers protects the people his deputies were being sent into danger to serve. Most recently, he partnered with our human services team to deploy crisis teleaalth technology, connecting behavioral health professionals virtually and in real time to deputies responding to mental health crisis calls because he understood early that that not every call is a law enforcement issue. As Chris said at last year's behavioral health building groundbreaking, so many of the calls his deputies respond to are about people in pain. In his words, "This facility provides us with a compassionate path forward, one that offers care instead of cuffs. Chris leaves behind a dep a department that provides contracted law enforcement services to multiple municipalities across this county. The Sturdivan contract, as I mentioned earlier, is the newest example of a model that enhances county municipality collaboration. He also leaves behind a new public safety center that will house sheriff's operations, 911 dispatch, and the emergency operations center for generations to come. The people inside the sheriff's office know something that doesn't always make the news. Chris has never stopped fighting for our men and women in uniform. When they need equipment, he goes to bat

for the budget. When they need training, he finds the resources. When people question the value of law enforcement, he stands up and says so. Publicly and without apology, our staff know that when they're in the field, their sheriff has their back. Sheriff's Mailing, it is my honor to present you with Rine County's first ever lifetime achievement award. like to say a few words. I'll give I'll give you a few a few words,

Mr. Chairman. Is that okay? Go ahead. You got the mic.

Wow. This is quite an honor, I must tell you. And um I'm actually surprised my county executive is giving me the ability to take this mic for a moment. Everyone in this room probably knows that I like to use this mic. Um, but I will tell you just a very brief story. I first of all, I just want to say what an honor this is to be here uh tonight uh to stand before you before my goodness 32 years. How fast time has gone. It has gone so by fast so so quickly. Um I will tell you that when I was hired here 32 years ago, I got to tell you a funny story. So please bear with me. Maybe a light moment. Um but when I was hired, I was given an old baton. I'm telling you right now, it was a wooden stick that looked like it was dragged behind a squad car. And I was given that I was given a can of OC pepper spray that was expired. I didn't ask any questions because why? I'm 22 years old. What the heck do I know? I was given a helmet, a helmet that I was told I should wear, which I should wear when I was in a pursuit. And the helmet didn't even fit on the crust of my big old melon. It just sat right here. And you can laugh at it because I did too. And my sergeant told me, he said, "Just put it on, Chris." I said, "Well, it's sitting here. It doesn't even strap across my head." He goes, "I'm supposed to deliver this to you and wear it if you can and put it in your squad car, but you have to wear it because that's what the poly says, the policy says." And I thought, "Wow, I got to tell you, someday if I can change this, I'm going to." So, I took that helmet and I put it on the on the on the passenger seat of my squad car in a headrest. So my theory was is that if I was doing a traffic stop at 2 o'clock in the morning, which I've done plenty of them, that the bad guy might look back and see that there was maybe two people in that squad car, not just one. So we move forward in our careers as as I did, and I I look back at it and and since then, I've I've endorsed and supported such great people like our current county executive and and this board members here that we have here

today. and and to make certain that when I took the seat of sheriff uh that it was my objective to always make certain that we had nothing short of the great great training for my team. I got to tell you if I if I could stand here behind my team right now, there's over 300 of them between the sworn and unsworn staff and support staff. They should all be up here receiving this because there's no reason why I should be up here for this. It's because of them. And I mean that sincerely because it's them who make our community safer. It's them is the reason why we have a community we should all be proud of. And all of you and this board and these faces change. I see a lot of familiar faces. Bob, no offense. Bob's been here ever since. But uh you know, seriously, I we've I got a lot of great ideas over the years and I've had some that we have probably scratched our heads on, right? And we have all agreed to disagree on a lot of things, but I will tell you that it's been a great run. I I don't miss any of it. I miss the dialogue. I I will miss the dialogue. I I miss the I'll miss this this community, but I'm very proud of the the legacy we're leaving behind. I look back at uh I think Chief Deputy Jim Widner is sitting back there, Captain Evans. Uh I know there's others that are at Police Week right now in Washington, which I'll be joining them tomorrow. There are many that who make this community great. And I I I don't say that because that's cliche. I truly mean that. The only way we're ever going to have a community that is amazing is that when we all realize is that that public safety and the fundamental role of government and whether we like it or not, ladies and gentlemen, we're government. We are government. And the fundamental role of government is in fact the protection of its people. And when we realize when we have a safe community, we have a great community. When we feel good at home, at church, at school, at play, this is where it happens. This is how we build a great community. So, all that said, I don't want to take up your whole night tonight. This is a great honor. Thank you all so much. This is very near and

dear to me. I'll never forget it. It's been an honor and a privilege to serve you as your sheriff. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Tony. So recently I've been in these chambers for a lot of long board meetings. So I'm going to go for another hour if you're okay with that. You okay with that?

I'll add where I started. Be better. Before that was a philosophy I introduced. Now, it's a standard we've been held to by the by this board, our residents, and by me. I think we've earned some of it. Our finances are solid. Investments are paying off. The people running this county dayto-day are as dedicated as I've ever worked with throughout my career, and I've worked with some talented staffs. But there's always room to be better. Housing won't be solved in a year. The consortium model is still being proven out. The compensation structure has to hold and I'll be back here next year to tell tell you where we stand. I look forward to working alongside this board to get it done. I am grateful to serve this county from the bottom of my heart. I believe in what this place is capable of and that belief drives my work every day. Thank you for your trust in me and for the opportunity to serve. God bless County. God bless all of you. Thank you.

Supervisor Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I would ask unanimous consent that the county executives remarks be included in tonight's minutes. No objections. Granted.

Item number five, youth and government's group project presentation recognition and recognition of the outgoing members. Supervisor Caprellian I'm just going to let the room disappear just a little bit. This is This is where you guys have to sit for another hour. But it won't be listening to me though. But it won't be an hour. She's like, I got bingo. fun.

All right, we're just about filtering out. We've got a lot of great things. What a great opportunity that our constituents, our residents get to see this really great open view of rine county government this evening with the state of county address. Great job, county executive Maliki. And I get the privilege of honor in honor to be able to talk about the youth and governance program. I'm not going to spend too much time right now uh honoring we have an outgoing uh cohorts and then we will have incoming uh coming in just a little bit after that. So I'm going to let them do the power of what youth and governance is and let them talk about it. But just a little bit of structure here is uh we're gonna have the outcome uh going youth and governance come up here and you guys are going to do your presentation and after your presentation's over I'm just going to ask you kind of just step over to this side I'll come back at the mic and we'll be able to honor you and just talk a little bit more about youth and governance. So those who are ready I won't make you sit any longer. How about you come on up here and then I will hand the mic over to you.

All right, here is our 12th cohort of youth and governance in their presentation. You guys

hi, my name is Niola. I was on the because we're broadcasting. Oh, yes. Sorry. It's like

should I just start? Okay. Um, hi, my name is Niola. I was on the um, health and human development and I will be starting this presentation for us. Okay. Um, so who are we? We are the youth and governance representatives of 2526. Um, we are currently outgoing. Some of us will be staying, some of us will be leaving. Um, we served on a total of five boards. the economic development in land use planning, finance and human resources, government services, health and human development and public works and parks facilities. My name is Valeria. I was on finance and human resources and we began at the bus tour which allowed us to explore and acclimate to the various facilities offered by Rine County. We visited the courthouse, the law enforcement center, the rine county jail, and the John Degrave Youth Development and Care Center. After seeing the difference between the facilities, we decided to focus on improving their youth experiences in the foster care system.

Hi, my name is Juliano Ferentino and I serve on the economic development and land use uh planning committee. Um, so I'll walk us through the planning process. So we started by conducting interviews with representatives from the rine county foster care. Um we gathered lots of valuable information about the experiences from both children and parents. Um we realized that this these issues were not only affecting the youth but they were also affecting incoming foster parents. Um and we discussed a ton of different possibilities. So we talked about mental health support, hygiene supplies, uh literacy materials for the youth. And after discussing with real people from the community in these situations, we learned that drives can often feel uh impersonal with donated items often feeling generic. Um and we realized that drives oftentimes have a short-term impact, but our group was looking to have a long-term impact on the community of Ring County. Hi, my name is Scout Winer. I serve on the government services committee. I'm going to talk about our objectives and then our outcomes. So, kind of going off of what Juliano said, we want to make sure that we weren't stripping autonomy from anyone in the foster care system. And this is why in our objectives, we specifically wanted to provide accessible resources for families and youth without doing this. We also want to increase awareness of the foster care system throughout racing county and create real tangible improvements within the system that specifically go beyond our generation. For outcomes, we came up with a research poster on youth perspectives, a video highlighting youth experiences in Racing County, also in relation to foster care, and then a visitation room improvement proposal accompanied by $500 of funds allocated to Racing County for that specific project. Hi everyone, my name is Ignasio. I served on the economic development and in land use planning committee and I was reelected to serve on the health and

human development committee this year. So what you see on the screen is one of the many puzzle pieces in a much larger picture of tangible impacts. you see that we uh were inspired by the John Delgrave Center um and their more restorative um way approach of going about youth. And in this pamphlet, we created QR codes and pulled from different resources already available in Ring County um to be used in the intake room proposal. Um, unfortunately it wasn't approved, but um, hopefully we can continue making real tangible impacts. Thank you.

Hello everyone. My name is Remy Oscerson. This cycle I was not on a committee, but that did not stop me from helping these guys out. Um, last winter the team of us visited the foster care system building on Taylor Avenue. And that building, let me say, first of all, has a lot going for it. When I first walked in there to get to the family visitation room, I had to trek through a baby shower. And as pleasant as that was, we soon found out that the real problems were within the system. The room that we visited wasn't as inviting. The problem was is that the room was small and the interactions felt surveyed surveiled as there was a double mirror that people would look on in. To get to the bathroom, you'd have to walk out and go through an office space and the current environment was harsh. The colors were vibrant and uninviting and the lighting made it feel like we were being surveiled. So, our goal was to create a more welcoming and supportive environment for families. And we proposed to do this by taking down the mirror, redecorating the room to make it more inviting for families and overall create a better environment.

Hello, my name is Gabby Skipper and I served on the Finance and Human Resources Committee. Hello, I'm Matis Reigns and I have served on our committee. I'm just here to help on the group project.

So to support the renovations to the foster care room, we found some research and our initiative was to find applicable finding or our initiative was to find applicable information that supported the um renovations that we were going to be proposing for the foster care renovations in the visitation room. So one of the things that we researched was color. Um, like Remy said before, the room before was super vibrant. And so we found that opting for simpler colors like grays, beiges, and earth tones like greens and blues was the best idea and to avoid super harsh and like contrasting colors to make the room less stimulating and just to overall have a more calming environment. We also did some research on what type of furniture should go in this afternoon. And we figured out that the furniture that should go in should provide some sort of safety, comfort, and like sensory regulation to the children and the providers. And some examples of this is commercial grade uh seating that although it's like commercial, it also gives the at home feeling while also being easy to clean. Additionally, we found out that a rug would also be really good as it gives like a basically a zone where the kids can play and it gives the adults and kids some time to play like floor level interaction. Another area that we uh researched was the lighting. Again, avoiding certain things that were too stimulating like overhead fluorescent lighting and instead going for either light dimmers or even colored lights so that the families can have a sense of choice in what they are greeting each other in. And also it just helps with overall um just feeling comfort in the room. We also did some additional research on like what activities the adults and kids can get into in that warming up era and figured out that like stuff like board games and like uh games that went with the ages kid like help provide like that sense of relationship between the adult

and kid. So things like Candy Land uh Four Square and that stuff really helped provide a relationship. Hi everyone, my name is Treya and I served on the health and human development committee. Um this year four of us had the opportunity to become interns. Um Ignasio and I were research interns. Um Scout and Gabby were video interns and through these internships our cohort had the opportunity to go even deeper into the topic of our choice which was foster care. So I'm here to share some of our findings um throughout the research internship. So our research focused was um how do students in Rine County perceive the foster care system and where do they believe support caps exist? Um we use mixed method um a mixed method approach. Um we had 30 participants all rine county students and we found that 78.6% 6% of them reported little to no familiarity with foster care, but 74% of them would be able to support improvement initiatives. So through this um we found that students believe that foster care lacks support and stable housing, mental health support, identity and consistent adult guidance. Um through this um we understand that awareness is low but concern is high. um stigma stigma and misinformation um impact support and education and community involvement um would increase with increased awareness.

Another wonderful part of this research and video internship experience was being able to attend the YPCL conference. So this was a leadership summit um where we were introduced to two well four interns of three other counties. So we were joined with Dne County, Bernett County and Iron County. And this was all um being funded through the Baldwin grant that we received this year which connected both urban and rural um youth and governance programs across the state of Wisconsin. Um so at this first conference we were introduced to them. We also were able to gain um like teamwork and communication skills and this was the start of our journey throughout the year. And then towards um the beginning of February we also had the opportunity to attend the Wisconsin counties association conference. Um, this is where we heard from amazing speakers, um, Congress, people, and also our governor, Tony Ivers. We were able to get a full experience of what other counties are doing across the state, talk to supervisors, present our research and video materials, and then also just being able to explore Madison and see what other people are doing across the state. Hi, my name is Keegan Flood and I sat on the public works parks and services committee and I'm here to thankfully close us out. So, what were our takeaways from this project? Our main takeaway was that while our impact may seem scattered with proposals left and right and center and a lot and I mean a lot of pivoting. I believe we settled on a core theme with this the betterment of

the foster care system and through that effort in order to improve the foster care system we acrewed we began fighting for better infrastructure. We fought to raise funds create we created a video on the subject and we just conducted a lot of research into the target audience facing this and we hope to provide a lot of research for the people moving forward with this subject and as an advice from all of us we would like to simply give the future oncoming members of the rine youth and governance program this do not rush the process you know our cohort may have pivoted a lot as I've said earlier, but again, we settled on a core theme and we stuck with it and we saw it through. The goal is to refine these aspirations and not focus on one singular impact, but to maximize our long-term impact. And if you can move on to the next slide. And so from the bottom of the 2026 cohort, we would like to say thank you. Now, does everyone have any questions?

I'll just go ahead and ask. Uh so I know with you've mentioned Keegan that you guys pivoted quite a bit and now you've settled on uh the focus of the foster care system. Thank you so much. It really does need that attention, but can you talk about the challenges and the growth that happened during the pivoting process?

Of course. I'd be more than happy to. Now, a big challenge that came to us early on is that we were we there were a lot of great minds in a room with a lot of ideas. And when that tends to happen, there's a lot of butdding heads, so to speak. A lot of people with a lot of great ideas means that there's going to be conflict. There's going to be a lot of change. And early on, we all assumed, oh, we got a year to do this. We're going to be fine. It was not, in fact, fine. We spent most of the winter pivoting from many ideas but eventually settling on something to do with the foster care system. We were particularly impacted when we visited the um newly built uh Rine youth facility. We wanted to do something that had to do with that as it seemed to attract all of our interests. Now the unfortunate part was we had many different ideas on what we wanted to do with that. Some of us proposed a drive, some of us proposed something more permanent, but eventually we did settle on renovating that room when we visited and tooured the uh foster care building. And from there, we pivoted one more time nearly before we eventually settled on doing the pamphlet, researching, and then providing uh grant fund money for future renovations, which thanks to Scott, we actually did achieve. So, uh thank her for that. And um I suppose that answers that question. I would hope. Uh Supervisor Capellian,

you sure did, Keegan. And what a great reminder that we are in a room of great minds here too. And you know, sometimes that does mean great ideas and then the bumping of the heads, but look how you all came together just as we do here. So thank you for that reminder. Thank you. Are there any other questions? I can't see. So, speak up. Okay. Supervisor

chairman. Uh during your research um in the interviews that you did, can you speak to uh any youth or uh that had experienced the foster care system themselves and especially adults that you ran into who had been in foster care as a a young person and how that weighted your research findings? Yeah. So early on um the research internship actually started in November. So our first conference was late November. Um we actually got to meet with a foster care youth, two of them actually, and also a foster care parent because at the YPCL there were like different groups um Girl Scouts and many others. And that kind of actually swayed us in the um process. um we were still going through obviously like Keegan was saying the pivoting process and through the um you know the interviews we did with them um it kind of set us in stone that that was the path that we were going to take. Um they shined a light on um how helpful their experience like uh the foster care was for at least the parent um and how uh different resources helped them and that kind of helped us focus on a resource centered thing. Yeah, I would also like to add um when we interviewed the representative of the racing foster care system uh Jessica, she provided uh a lot of insights to the foster care system as a whole. Many of us um going into it thought a lot of the support was needed for the youth like providing them with hygiene materials or um like blankets or toys. Um however, she said that a lot of the parents too needed resources as well to be certified to foster youth. Um, a lot of the

barriers are financial and getting materials such as like carbon monoxide detectors and child safety locks. A lot of these little things that limit a lot of people from becoming foster um parents and fostering youth. And that contributes to a much larger issue nationwide, not even just in our county, of um youth experiencing um issues finding a home, youth experiencing um having to resort to group homes, which is another topic to be discussed as well. Supervisor Horth.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh no questions, so you can all breathe easy. I would just like to say and on and certainly on behalf of myself and others can will speak for themselves that we have every reason to be proud of you to be encouraged by what you have accomplished and what you have shown us you can do when you put your minds to it. And so I just want to say thank you you Keegan you did for us. I'd like to say thank you for the group for everything that you stand for because we have every reason right now to be encouraged about our future when we have the chance to look at a group like yourselves. Thank you very much.

Are there are there any other questions out there? I don't have a question. I just want to say it was just an honor just to see how you guys started and to see where you guys are now. To see how y'all found y'all voice and now y'all just not afraid. You guys stay encouraged and just know just because you guys are leaving us, you still have us. But I'm proud of you guys and y'all want y'all to know keep going. Thank you.

Thank you. So, so I want to say also it's always fun tonight. We get great presentations, some great work in the last year, and now we've got a new class coming in.

Good luck. You're welcome. Supervisor Horus, you've summed it up so well. I mean, really, the pride that we feel in these youth, and we should. Same with you, Supervisor Coleman. Just as me uh much as uh you have us, I hope we continue to have you, too. Please don't forget about us. And uh you know at some point I'm sure like Keegan who wants to be a politician someday we actually might see him over there fighting for your seat supervisor HT. So

yep he's in supervisor HT. So, I get the great privilege and honor to uh bring each one of these youth up here who are finishing their term and uh we're going to have chairman Kramer, Vice Chair Meyer, uh give you a certificate and uh you are then free to come sit and watch the new cohort be uh uh sworn in by Judge Lat. Thank you for sitting through this. Uh so part of the reason that Rine County has this youth and governance program is to really model uh youth involvement and get them involved in community government and county government and to not only give them a voice uh as they are working within and are in our community and in our county uh to instill that sense of pride And to also not only allow it allows us here as we're sitting making decisions and we can can kind of get lost in the moment of what's before us and forget that the decisions we are making are actually impacting our future. And so it's no longer abstract when they are in the room with us. It is a great reminder that our decisions are then brought to life by your faces here. that they're really for our future. So, you serve a purpose just as much as we serve a purpose for you. So, I'm going to first start out with uh honoring Gabby. Gabby Skipper. So, if you like to come up here, I just want to say a couple words about Gabby. Gabby started out as our alternate. So, we have 10 who are uh selected to serve on the committee and we have two alternates just in case

those who are selected can't fulfill their term. Gabby really not only uh as an alternate waiting in the wing, she's like uh-uh. Gabby was one of the strongest leaders in the youth and governance project development and she showed up every single service project meeting, every single one. And uh she also uh participated in the video internship for the Baldwin grant. So congratulations for that and thank you for that. She also represented our group and uh at the youth as partners in civic leadership. Excellent teamworking skills. Absolutely excellent. And you always asked others for their input, pulling others in to participate. She also stepped up right away when asked to serve the role on youth and governance when uh one of our youth had to step down. So then she served the final few months, a month or so on finance. Gabby, thank you so much. We are so grateful for the mark you have left behind on Rine County government. Thank you. So, uh, Silas is not here, so I'll just mention a couple things. But, uh, Silus, uh, Hoffenmeister, he was also another alternate, but as an alternate, he attended the service project meetings uh, when his schedule allowed, and he communicated well when there was conflicts and remained committed to being supportive of the group. We know Keegan and the rest of we talked about the pivoting point. So, he did offer himself for that. We honor him for that. He was very active in the community or he is very active and he's also a strong

leader in the Boy Scout. So, we do want to thank Silas for um serving with us for a term as an alternate. And you know what I haven't been doing and we should be screaming a little bit out loud here, but I also want to honor the mentor. So, Supervisor Troier, you are a mentor to Gabby. Thank you for that. And also as a chair, the the role of that is really important as well. And uh you were in supervisor, you are in supervisor Wish's district. And then uh but now as we go to uh Niola Anderson. So she has been a very strong player for the service project. Just love your smile and she's always offering her strength in her graphic design which is very powerful especially when we have presentations. She takes the times to listen to other team members and is great at making everyone feel included. Niola is always very passionate about robotics and is in a leadership position with her school's robotic team and thank you so much for being part of this program. Your your strength has been a gift and Rine County is definitely better because you have chose to offer your voice here. Thank you so much. Well, do we guess who her mentor was? Supervisor Coleman, thank you for that. And she is in U Monty Astraman's district, former Tom Rowsky's district. All right, so now we have Giana. Giana,

I just beam with pride because she was on government services. And uh so Gianna Balky, Gianna is quiet, but she finds a way to share her opinion and support uh for the service project. And she is extremely passionate about uh various social justice issues and has gone out of her way to set up meetings and with local community advocates in order to find her role in the community. Giana is extremely reflective and is always willing to contribute feedback and support and how to improve the program of the future cohorts. And what's beautiful about Giana is we get to have her again for this next term. So Gianna, thank you so much and I look forward to seeing you for another year.

The mentor was Tom Pricer. So, thank you. And Taylor Wishaw's district. Alrighty. So, then we now have uh who do we have? Juliano. Awesome. Juliano Ferentino. And this is pretty powerful what he did. I'm just going to read a couple things, but Juliano did something. I happened to be on a couple of the meetings that the youth and governance were meeting and where they're talking about that pivoting. I was there for a few of those meetings. But so Juliano has been very consistent in attending attending the service project meetings and is always offering innovative ideas during the meeting. So but when things were getting very I think it was getting thick with many ideas coming forward and there was a it was a lot of maybe chaos that was happening. He offers this sense of I think this calm and this repivotival point where he brings this powerful refocus that is truly a gift. You are very gifted in that and it was beautiful to see. I almost sat back. We were in a virtual Zoom meeting and I was just beaming with pride to see you instill that all of us tried to accomplish even as adults and just how well you did that. So you are very uplifting to others and you offer encouragement to the team. Thank you so much for offering that not only to us but to also to your other youth and governance rep.

Thank you.

Juliano's mentor was Supervisor Barth and he lives in Bob Miller's district. All right, Keegan. Woohoo. Okay, Keegan Flood. So, Keegan has been a great asset to the group. He brings a passion and energy. I almost don't even need to say that. You zoom it. Uh you can tell he is deeply cares about what making the community a better place for everyone in the efforts it needs to get to achieve that. Keegan hopes to become a politician someday. So I can see he takes advantage of every opportunity that is presented to him in in order to continue learning of how to be a better leader. For example, Keegan recently offered to represent Rine County Youth and Governance alongside Gabby Skipper at the Johnson Foundation youth leadership event. Thank you so much for this beautiful energy that you give us and that you have gifted us. I think all I everybody's nodding their heads behind. You offer something very special and you just have this ability to bring the room up. So Keegan, thank you so much.

Thank you. Yeah.

Keegan's mentor, Supervisor Horus, and also lives in Supervisor Horus district. All right. Now we are on to Tria. Tria. Tria. Um, what's very special about Tria, not only do we see her here, but I get to see her out in the community. She is such a dedicated individual, and we get to have her again for another term. So, how delightful. But let me offer you a couple other things about Tria. Very strong leader in this service project. She often takes initiatives to lead meetings, set realistic timelines and um and then Tria also participated as she mentioned during the presentation as a research in intern through the Baldwin grant author offered by the UWMadison where she and Ignasio focused on foster care awareness. Tria is extremely dependable team member despite balancing several different responsibilities such as being a peer mentor and being part of the student government and participating in model UN. It is absolutely with great delight that we get to have you for another year TRIA and I look forward to what is to come and especially through your leadership. So thank you Tria. Tria is mentored by Supervisor Miller and also lives in Supervisor Miller's district. All right. So, now we are on to Claire Matthews. She's not here. Well, let's talk about Claire, though. We do need to honor her. I hope she has the opportunity to watch this. But Claire is an extremely well-rounded student in the community, balancing her service as a youth and governance representative, working part-time and being co- captain of her school's varsity tennis team. She attended her committee meetings consistently and always remained a great

communication. We thank you, Claire, for being part of uh this uh youth and governance group. By the way, have those been in order that you've signed? Have they been in order? No. Good. We were told, "Keep those in order. Keep those in order." And we've been fighting back and forth who made them go out of order. But anyways, okay. All right, Valeria. Oh, please come up here. The delight to have you, Valeria. Valeria.

Valeria. Oh my Jesus. Yeah. Okay. So what has been delightful is that I've been again had the opportunity to be part of uh some meetings of the youth and governance convening and there's some softer pos people that uh offer this sense of quiet and calm and but however when they're contribution is presented it is powerful. you can tell that you've sat there, you're digesting and that you are a critical thinker and it's it offers a really great balance especially when there is a bunch of chaos or lots of movement. So, you have been consistently involved in the service project throughout your term here and has been a fantastic role model for the group as one of the graduating seniors. And your goal in the future is to become a lawyer and is well off on her way to reach those goals. And you continue to volunteer and to take on leadership roles. And you excel at listening to others. and how powerful who doesn't want to be heard and you offer that. Thank you for being and holding that position for our group and I'm sure Judge Lot over there perked up and to hear and you might have somebody serving right alongside you. So, thank you so much. All right. Up. Who do we have as her mentor? Spencer. Supervisor Spencer. Thank you so much. And supervisor Wishes District. So, now we have Scout.

Agnos. Well, now now this is out of order. All right. Well, then we'll go to Ignasio. Come on up.

I can't wait to talk about Ignasio because Ignasio taught me something. and Agnosio, I don't know why I don't see you on here, but that's okay. So, Ignasio, uh, as he presented himself, he was a bit of a transplant here, but it really talks about how when somebody can come in here and really make an impact and start making roots and really having this growth that tends to not only provide this sense of visual impact, but you provide this comfort and almost like this big hug. But I really want to talk about something powerful that you did for me. You and uh Ignasio and I were getting interviewed and uh we were on um uh I think like a community matters for a radio show and he said something to me and it made me think just how important it is that these youth are next to us as much as we are next to them. is that he made me step outside myself and just to s sit and think about how your you are experiencing this, how the youth is experiencing this. He I was being asked why is youth in governance? Why does it matter? What is it about? You know, I was giving maybe what an adult would give for an answer and probably what I said at the beginning of this. And he talked about nothing about what I said, but he talked about just how powerful it was him standing beside each one of you and just how distinguished you are and who you are in what you do. And that was the power and where he found strength and really they are the future are going to be working all together. And so it wasn't so much as I'm thinking, oh, us mentors are so important, but it's really about your peers that were standing inside of you. So, thank you for putting me in check and making me really see this uh from a youth's perspective. So, thank you. And and

Ignasio will be with us for another term. Ignasio's mentor uh was Supervisor Rakowski and but he lives in Supervisor Spencer's district. Scout. All right. So, Scout, what a powerful individual you are. And I love that you get to stand right next to me because I am her mentor. But uh Scout has been one of the main leaders in the service project. She took the initiative to reach out to several rine county department heads in order to get the ball rolling with the service project. She excels at everything, but what this says is she excels at bringing the group back to reality to set realistic goals and is always there for the group's feedback. Scout went out of her way to plan meetings with rine county department heads and you brought detailed notes and updated back to the group. Scout also participated as a video intern for the Baldwin grant and has helped represent the group at the Wisconsin Counties Association conference and as the privilege of being her mentor, I feel like I just want to be her. I want to be like her. uh where was I her at at her age? And I just think about how warm that you make people feel when they're engaging with you and then the power in which you hold. I just I don't want to be forgotten by you because she's going to go places and I hope we can continue to track you and you're such a significant individual and thank you for being such a great asset to the youth and governance program.

Thank you. Oh,

yes. I was am her mentor, but Eric Hop Hopkins district is where she resides. And so now we have uh Remy, delightful Remy. So Remy, after applying for the youth in governance, uh Remy volunteered to be part of the service project. It was the first year that we opened up an opportunity for those who didn't make it through to be able to partake in the youth and governance project. And he just jumped in right away and he said, "Absolutely." And he attended all of the service projects throughout the term. He took on his opportunity in order to continue learning about rine county as his goal to remain involved in local government and legislative policy as a career. Remy is also involved in model UN formerly served in student government and will spend the summer shadowing at Madison Capitol in the assembly office. Remy also is now going to be joining us for this next youth and governance term. I look forward. You bring such a joy and you have this comedic present relief about you that things can be serious and I again we get nods from your peers here. But it's it's a delight because we don't know what you're going to say but we know we're going to be entertained and amused. So I absolutely love it Remy. So congratulations on this and for coming back as well. John Wish is uh the supervisor where he resides. All right. So Matthysse Reigns Ma Matthysse also volunteered to be part of this service project. And not only did he volunteer to be part of this

project, but his desire and dedication and his goal setting that he does for himself is quite impressive. It stood out to me prior to the youth and governance turn even starting. I have never had this in the decade that I've been in this role have I had somebody continuously reach out or family reach out just to showcase your dedication and what you're willing to do. highly impressive and you were very active in the service project, great team member and you attended every single service project once again throughout this whole term. Matthysse is you are on the quieter side, but you truly come out of your shell over this past year and you have been completely supportive uh of your team with conducting research on trauma informed visitation rooms for the reine foster care program. He is extremely dependable and articulates his thoughts extremely well to the group after taking time to listen, reflect and on the opinions of others. You are a great student and you take on leadership opportunities and you are involved on your track and cross country team and thank you so much for choosing us and we are so much better because you have. Thank you.

Okay. I did not forget anyone, did I? I did that one year. It was terrible. What?

Oh my goodness. No. So, thank you so much. You guys are free to go or please sit down and uh watch your uh you're the next cohort come on in. So, thank you so much. So, with so with that we have Item number six, the youth and government uh presentation of the incoming representatives.

All right. So, I again get the honor and privilege just to be able to call up here the new 13th the group 13 uh youth and governance representatives. This has been going on for 13 years. This is really just uh an I think an asset that we have. Our youth and governance program here in Reine County is a model across uh Wisconsin. So, we have a lot to be proud of. And you know, I'm standing here and I just want to tell you the things that are written, the work that's truly been done has not been by me. I just happened to get the microphone. Uh this is really uh Maria, is she here? Is she standing here? Maria Oh, there you are. It is really the work. Could you please stand up, Maria, Marie? Maria Ganton. Um, I really think uh this program has excelled and it has come to the recognition and become the model it is because of you and because of your dedication. Thank you for making me look good. I didn't write do all this. This is your work. So, Maria, thank you. Maria, um, I'm going to tell you, I have just found that because of your dedication, it makes me that much more dedicated as well. And the group, the group here in the past had somebody they could rely on and you were consistently there. Uh, so thank you. Thank you so much again. All right. So, what we're going to do, I'm going to call up here. a couple of these are familiar faces uh but they do have to get sworn in. We have Judge Lat here. So, thank you again for being here. I'm going to first call up uh Gianna Balky. Congratulations.

Um her mentor is Jodie Spencer and Tom Pricer is the district in which she lives. So, please come up. The reason we can clap and celebrate it, I just want you to understand this is an extremely competitive process. This is open to all rine county youth throughout the county and only 10 get to selected. So congratulations on that Giana once again. Um Kale, where's Kale? Very g congratulations. And I should also mentioned Diana is going to be on finance um and human resources committee. Kale uh Case High School student and Gianna's Burlington High School student. Ernie Rossy will be the mentor. Lives in John Wish's district and will serve on public works and park and facility committee. Congratulations, Kale. All right, we have Lillian. There she is. Lillian is a Prairie School student and she uh is going to be mentored by Supervisor Hoffman. Thank you for that. And lives in Supervisor Miller's district and she will be serving her term on government services. I look forward to having you there. Thank you. and congratulations. All right, so we have Kiana Kiana home. I just smile because I know the energy she brings. So Kiana, she will be serving on Ed Loop, our economic development and land use planning

committee and supervisor Austerman will be her mentor and she lives in QA Shakor's district and she goes to school at St. Cat's. Thank you. Tria, please make an appearance up here again. prairie school student and uh she'll be serving on health and human development. Supervisor Miller will be her mentor and she lives in Supervisor Trudier's district. Congratulations and thank you. Remy make an appearance up here again. Thank you, Remy. You go to Prairie School as well. All righty. And you will be serving on Ed Loop, our economic development and land use and planning committee. You're going to be mentored by Supervisor Horus and you live in John Wish's district. Congratulations and welcome. Okay. Andrew Andrew Schuler, I just smile a little bit harder. I will be mentoring Andrew. Andrew is a student at uh Rine Luther and uh lives in Jodie Spencer's district. We're happy to have you, Andrew. Thank you and congratulations. And we have Matson Madison,

a Union Grove student and will be serving on public works and parks and facilities. She will be mentored by uh Supervisor Pricer. Thank you for that. And she lives in Scott Meyers district. Thank you and welcome aboard. Millie Millie goes to Horlick and she is going to be serving on the finance and human resources committee. She is mentored by our vice chair uh supervisor Meyer and lives in Supervisor Wish's district. So welcome and thank you Ignasio. So who's going to be mentoring Ignasio? Supervisor Coleman and uh Ignasio goes to Washington Park High School and lives in Supervisor Wasi's district. Thank you and welcome back, Ignasio. And then I also want to bring up here our two alternates. very important roles are alternates and uh they will have the opportunity to uh join uh the youth behind me in the service project and kind of wait and uh be there, be present and stay active just in case we need them. So I'm going to ask Colin to please come up here. Colin Smith,

thank you for accepting that role, Colin. Colin lives uh in Jodie Spencer's district, supervisor Spencer's district, and attends Prairie School. Thank you. And Idali Antonio, if you could please come up here. Dolly, thank you so much too for accepting that position as an alternate. uh she attends uh Washington Park High and lives in Supervisor Shakor's district. So, welcome the incoming group. And please stay up here and I'm going to ask Judge Lock to come up here and swear you in and give you your oath. Thank you. All right. Um so, if you can all raise your right hands. I and then I will uh read this oath, but I just need you all to state your name individually. When I say state your name, I state your name. All right.

Having been appointed as a youth in governance representative in and for the county of Rine, but have not yet entered upon the duties thereof, soundly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin and will faithfully discharge the duties of set office to the best of my ability. So help me God. what she said. I do. I do. All right. Thank you all. Well done.

I love that energy. Supervisor Coleman. Uh so thank you so much and you really are released. You can stay here and uh listen to the pro the proceedings of our county board meeting. And again, thank you to the families who uh are supporting other youth and also to the mentors, not only those who I have named, but the committee chairs who are also the mentors uh to this group. And we look forward to what's to come and we're here to support you. So, thank you. All right. Item number seven, public comment. Pursuant to section 2-71 of the Rine County Code of Ordinances, each speaker shall be allotted a maximum of three minutes. Are there any public comments out there? Seeing none, we're going to move on to item number eight, reading of the minutes of the previous meeting, which is automatically waved unless requested by a majority of the members present. Seeing no objections, resolutions, and ordinances referred to committee.

There are none. And I will also state for the record, Mr. chairman that supervisors Shakur, Neielen, Hopkins, and WISH are excused and supervisor Kelly has been attending virtually. Thank you.

Item number 10, introduction of resolutions and ordinances for first reading and referral. Resolution number 2026-1 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the transfer of funds within the human services department, public works and development services department, capital funds, and various departments in the general fund to close the 2025 year. Resolution number 2026-2 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the purchase of two snowmobiles for the total of $15,000 in a transfer of funds within the 2026 capital budget. Resolution number 2026-3 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing a three-year agreement from 2026 to 2029 with Kerosoft Technology Corp. for a total of $168,61 and transfer within the Sheriff's Office 2026 budget. Resolution number 2026-4 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the acceptance of a Greater Wisconsin Area Agency on Aging Resources, Inc. grant in the amount of $100,000 in transfer funds within the human services department 2026 budget. Resolution number 2026-5 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the acceptance of a Wisconsin Department of Administration State Violence Prevention Grant in the amount of $131,600 and transfer funds within the Sheriff's Office 2026 budget and ordinance number 2026-6 by Economic Development and Land Use Planning Committee to reszone from A1 Farmland Preservation District to A2 general farming and residential district 2, section 20, town 3 north, range 19 east, town of Burlington, owner Carrie Brinkman. Item number 11. Supervisor Rossi, did you you've got a few public works tonight for first reading. First first and second.

Thank you, Chairman. Yes. 2026 uh- 78 9 and 10 were uh um discussed and then moved to uh be presented tonight for first reading. 2026-7 was uh sent for uh second reading. So first and second reading tonight as well.

Any objections? Okay, that would be resolution number 2026-7 by the public works parks and facilities committee authorizing the conveyance of county own land by permanent easement to Wisconsin electric power company doing business as we energies to install gas service resolution number 2026-8 by the public works parks and facilities committee authorizing the commands of county owned land by permanent easement to Wisconsin electric power company doing businesses we energies and Wisconsin Bell LLC doing businesses AT&T Wisconsin to install underground utilities resolution number 26-9 by public works parks and facilities committee authorizing and consenting as trail manager of the White River State Trail to the above ground high voltage electrical transmission line easement between the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the American Transmission Company LLC and resolution number 2026-10 by the Public Works Parks and Facilities Committee authorizing acquisition of rightaway for a highway improvement project on County Trunk Highway C in the village of Mount Pleasant.

Point of order, Mr. Chairman. Yes. So, our agenda says there will be two resolutions from public works for second reading tonight. And I think the request was just for seven is or what is it seven and eight? Go ahead, Supervisor Rossy.

Thank you, Chairman. Yes. Um some information came from corporation council that um and following on the uh you know the standard of items that are sent for first and second reading you know there's an there's an impetus that there's you know an urgency for the need or the uh uh reading or the reason for the second reading and the simultaneous first reading. So um the 2026-8 didn't really need second reading tonight. So we uh moved in committee to just send it for first reading tonight. So that would be the change. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Item number 11, communications and claims.

Number one, declaration of emergency in response to flooding and severe weather impacts in Rine County from the Rine County Executive Ralph Maliki. And number two, official proclamation regarding National Foster Care Month from the Rine County Executive Ralph Maliki. Items number one and two are received and filed in the county clerk's office. Number three, Rine County facilities management notable project status report for the month of April 2026. Item number three is referred to public works parks and facilities committee.

Number four, notice of pending application for dredging for the project located on Wind Lake in the northeast quarter of southeast quarter section 4 township floor range 20 east town of Norway reine county from the state Wisconsin department of natural resources. Number five, resolution setting forth and adopting the relocation order for the village of Union Grove affecting property located within the village having a parcel ID number of 1863213200022030 rel related to the planned reconstruction of 67th drive from the village of Union Grove. Number six, notice a pending application for a lakeshore erosion control project located on Lake Michigan in the southwest quarter of southwest quarter section 27 township 4 range 23 east village of Windpoint Rine County from the state of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Number seven, resolution setting forth and adopting the relocation order of the village of Yorkville affecting property located within the village having a parcel ID number of 194032128015030 related to the plan reconstruction of 67th drive from the village of Yorkville. Number eight, filing of relocation order and plat for project ID 1320-13-22 county highway and county highway C rein county for Wisconsin department of transportation division of transportation system development number nine resolution in support with the village of summers for the maintaining of sheridan road a configured from rein excuse me from Kenosha County number 10 resolution requesting Wisconsin counties association lobby state legislature and governor and legislation for greater local control for Wisconsin counties from Price, Wnebago, and Buffalo Counties. And number 11, adoption of amendments to the MMSD rules chapter 11 from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District.

Items number four through 11 refer to the Economic Development and Land Use Planning Committee. Items number 12 through 15 are claims against the county. Items number 16 and 17 are foreclosures of mortgage. And items number 18 through 53 are notifications from United States Bankruptcy Court. Request for copies of communications. Supervisor Wishaw. Thank you, Chairman. Copies of 4, 6, 10, 12 through 15, please. Supervisor Horth.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to request copies 3 through 11. Supervisor Mc Reynolds. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, copies of 3 4 12 13 14 and 15, please. Supervisor Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 12. Supervisor Hoffman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could I have copy of 12, 13, 14, and 15, please? Supervisor Rossi. Thank you chairman. 9 10 and 12. Supervisor Ostman four and six please.

Supervisor Troutier. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Numbers 479 and 12 through 14. Supervisor Capellian. Number six please. Vice Chairman. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Number 5 7 and 12 through 15 please. Supervisor Spencer. Thank you. Number nine, number 12, and number 15, please. And I would like number 4, 9, 10, and 12 through 15. Any further requests? Communications from the county executive.

Report number 2026-1 by county executive making reappointments to the Renine Zoolological Society board of directors referred to the public works parks and facilities committee. Supervisor Rossi. Uh thank you chairman. The public works parks and facilities committee will be taking this one up on Thursday. All right. Report number 2026-2 by county executive making a reappoint to the Graham Public Library Board of Trustees. This was referred to the executive committee.

The executive committee uh will meet on that next next uh uh beginning uh prior to the next meeting. Okay. Report number 2026-3 by county executive making a reappoint to the Eagle Lake Management District Board. This was referred to public works parks and facilities committee. Fresosi. Thank you, Chairman. Again, this will be uh Thursday. Report number 2026-5 by County Executive making a reappoint to the zoning board of adjustments. This was referred to the economic development and land use planning committee. Supervisor Horth.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This item was reviewed earlier this evening and was supported by the committee with the unanimous vote to move forward. Um, however, from a procedural standpoint, unfamiliar with how we should be doing that at this time. We're simply put it on. If we got a mo motion and a second, we can go forward. Motion would be to approve this as presented for this appointment. Second. Second. Motion's been made, seconded. Any comments? I'll call the question. All in favor say I. I.

Opposed. Motion carried. Report number 2026-6 by county executive making an appointment to the zoning board of adjustment was referred to the economic development and land use planning committee. Supervisor Horus. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, this was reviewed earlier and was approved unanimously by the um economic development land use planning committee and would make a motion that this be approved uh this evening as well. Motion has been made and seconded. Any further comments or questions? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion's carried.

Report number 2026-9 by county executive making a recommendation for an appointment to the rein board of harbor commissioners. That's uh referred to public works. Report number 2026-10 by county executive making an appointment to the Prairie Lakes Library System Board of Trustees. To the executive committee. Report number 2026-11 by county executive making reappoints to the rine county human services board to the government services committee. Health and human development. Oh, wait a minute. Health and human development. Yeah. Report number 2026-12 by county executive making reappoints and an appointment to the local emergency planning committee. Government services.

Report number 2026-13 by county executive making reappoints to the rine county ethics board. Executive Committee and report number 2026-9 by County Executive making reappointments and appointments to the W Extension Education Committee, economic development, land use. Okay. Item number 13, standing committee reports containing recommendations on items referred. There are no reports. Item number 14, second reading of resolutions and ordinances.

Uh the only item we have for this evening is the item requested for first and second reading which is resolution number 2026-7 by the public works parks and facilities committee authorizing the conveyance of county own land by permanent easement to Wisconsin electric power company doing business as re-energies to install gas service and this is a majority vote. Mr. Chairman, thank you supervisor Rossi.

Thank you chairman. Um, what this is is is an easement that we previously approved. So, it's really a modification to the easement and I'm sure everyone's aware, but for those listening and maybe those not aware, an easement grants a utility provider the right to enter the our property to maintain alter um whatever they would need to do to the utility. So, this um is on the east side of the VHS building, the under construction VHS building, which puts this to the west of the uh Leip Avenue. Um there's about a 30-ft stretch, which is just I think it's getting about 10 more feet. So, um really just a small item. The reason for the uh change was because they ran into some footings was the reason I was given. So, uh more so just a clean up item for uh us to take care of. This was uh unanim unanimously moved um for a first and second reading and approval tonight by the committee.

Is there a motion and a second? Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any questions or comments? I'll call a question. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion carried. Item number 15, resolutions, recommendations and resolutions of ordinances with from previous meetings andor action on vetos. There are no items. Item number 16, reconsideration of and or notice of intent to reconsider resolutions and ordinances. There is no reconsideration. Informational reports.

Report number 2026-7 by county board chairman making appointments to standing committees and making changes in committee assignments. Report number 2026-14 by Finance and Human Resources Committee submitting investment report for the first quarter year 2026 by the Rine County Finance Director. Report number 2026-15 by Finance and Human Resources Committee on announcing the distribution of sales and use tax revenue for April 2026. Report number 2026-16 by Finance and Human Resources Committee announcing donations made to Reine County between January 1st, 2026 and March 31st, 2026. Report number 2026-17 by Finance and Human Resources Committee announcing grant applications applied for by Rine County between January 1st, 2026 and March 31st, 2026. And report number 2026-18 by county board chairman making appointments and reappointments to the land and water conservation committee.

And then chairman. Yes, supervisor. Before we move forward with theseformational reports, can we uh report number 202618? Uh there's just a correction on my address. Okay. Thank you.

Item number 18, miscellaneous business announcements and enroll reports. I just want to make everybody aware that there's a meeting of the whole on the 26th. And I've also liked to recognize the veterans we have in if you'd stand up for Veterans Day. We're going to have that afterwards. Any other veterans? Oh, thank you. Any further announcements? We

are adjourned. Oh. Oh. Back it took me in.