County Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to I'd like to call the meeting to order. If the clerk could call the role. Supervisors Kelly Ratkowski, Troutier, and Cole are excused. We still are awaiting one or two board members, but we do have a quorum in the chambers. And supervisor Rossi is excused also. He talked to me today. Okay. And Supervisor Rossi is excused as well. So customary we have an opening prayer and tonight Supervisor Hoffman.

Thank you chairman. God, allow us your insight in all our decision- making, acting with a heart of compassion, leading us to your due will in our lives to better serve our community, family, and friends. Amen.

And the pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Item number four, public comment. Pursuant to section 2-71 of the recine court of ordinances, each speaker shall be allotted a maximum of three minutes. Are there any public comments? Seeing none, I do want to bring up the IT director to explain the uh change over on our emails to.gov. Supervisors, as you may be aware, we transitioned Rine County from a dot.com to a.gov domain on earlier this week on Monday. Um, from a website perspective, which are there's a couple different components. So, from a website perspective, the transition required the coordination of a small amount of vendors um that needed to work seamlessly to have a smooth transition. From a public-f facing perspective, there were no interruptions of service except for at the very beginning which was uh quickly resolved. Um as of now, we have no major issues from from a public facing perspective. We do have a couple of issues internally that we're working on uh communication between the sites to where information is redirected internally. So uh from a public perspective, services perspective, uh the transition went fairly well. um very pleased with how it went. Um internally, we hope to have this transition finalized in the next couple of days, but it's something that's not going to affect uh the our internal employees and

definitely not anybody that relies on the uh the website domain. So, just wanted to give you an update on that and see if there's any questions for that piece. Supervisor Horth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yeah, simple question. How about the change over in uh collateral um stationary documentation, business cards for supervisors, things like that?

That's a great question. We can uh do that right now. And that that's a great segue into uh into my next uh next point is the email access. So I was going to mention the stationary, the um the email signatures uh as well as business cards as well. So from an emails perspective, we did create.gov emails for all county employees and those email addresses are active to receive emails as of right now. Um so both.com and.gov are active and they'll be delivered to your current inboxes. So you should see seamless uh coverage. Um we do plan to transition the departments from their.gov emails uh from their dot to their.gov gov as their primary email. So, as of right now, everybody uh uses a.com primary email. Uh we do want to transition that, but we do want to provide focused service while we're transitioning. So, we're going to be scheduling the departments uh department by department to be able to make those transitions and have a really good user experience. Um, not to get into too many details, but when we did internal test of the changeover between dotcom and.gov for internal uh, employees, we did find that there was um there were some issues that we needed to fix. Uh, so we're working through those issues now. So the um the way that we're going to go is we're going to take the smaller departments and we're going to transition them with IT support one by one and then so as we go we're going to learn more about the internal breaks with the uh.com to.gov. So imagine changing your phone number right all of the different things that you have to change nowadays with with your phone number. It's kind of the same thing from an internal perspective. Um, but just like use your phone number, somebody can call your phone and be absolutely

seamless. So, we're going to be doing that uh little by little, department by department, and we're going to be tailoring that uh that change experience um with us. We're going to do the smaller departments first, and then we are going to do public safety last because we want to take all of the learnings before we transition public safety. And we do expect that to take um a couple of months based on uh different counties experiences specifically uh Kenosha County. They went through that about a year year ago and it did take them a while to transition. As we're giving out as we're giving out our information, should we begin the process of in my case greg.horthinecount.gov.

That's correct. So So we can do it now. That's right. So you'll be able to receive emails at your.gov or.com and it'll be absolutely seamless, right? But right now your primary one will be the com until we transitioning to.gov as your primary one. Okay. Any further questions? I got Supervisor Spencer. So the website at.gov gov. Will there be an easier way for people to find their county board supervisors because it's not that's not an easy process?

Uh, as far as the functionality of the website that I'm not quite sure on on the use of it um to where the supervisors are located. That's something we can I can talk to the communications um manager about. But the the transition from the dotcom.gov gov on the on the back end side of it. That's that's what we were um we were tasked with doing. Any further questions? Supervisor Shakur.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is not a big deal and I'm not complaining by any mean, but just um just a question, a point of order or whatever. Would this be listed underformational reports or miscellaneous business? And the reason why I asked that is it's not posted on your whatever. question. I just I just kind of they asked to put this and we put it here. We could have put it in a different place, but I thought it would be best here. So, yeah, because you never know, there could be a constituent or someone that may not like the idea and if it's not listed or posted and here we getting ready to take action.

There's no action being taken. This isformational, but yeah, the action is going to.gov. go. That's already been done. What? This is just a report on it. So, so you all know that this is coming forward. Okay. Well, informationational report of whatever. Yeah. Just it's not a big deal, but just be aware.

Yes. Any further questions? Thank you. Was there another question? Item number five, reading of the minutes of the previous meeting, which is automatically waved unless requested by a majority of the members present. Seeing none, we'll move on to item number six, resolutions and or ordinances referred to committee. There are none.

Item item number seven, introduction of resolutions and ordinance for first reading and referral. Resolution number 2025-65 by finance and human resources committee authorizing the acceptance of a community policing development microrant in the amount of $169,600 and transfer funds within the sheriff's office 2026 budget. Resolution number 2025-66 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the elimination of one FTE support services coordinator N126 and two FTE Youth and Family case manager N125. Creation of one FTE Youth and Family Services Supervisor E060 and one FTE Youth and Family Lead Case Manager N126 effective January 24, 2026 and transfer of 71,452 within the human services 2026 budget. Resolution number 2025-67 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the acceptance of a Wisconsin Department of Health Services grant in the amount of $187,500 and transfer of funds within the public health 2026 budget. Resolution number 2025-68 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the acceptance of a National Network of Public Health Institutes data modernization and medicalological death investigation offices grant in the amount of $19,984 and transfer funds within the medical examiner 2025 budget. Resolution number 2025-69 by finance and human resources committee authorizing a fee schedule change for environmental health lodging fees due to the revision of state administrative rule ATC72 ordinance number 2025-70 by finance and human resources committee amending the rine county court of ordinances chapter 2 article 5 division 2 departments resolution number 2025-71 by finance and human resources committee authorizing a tenative agreement between rine county and the rine County Deputy Sheriff's

Association for the years of 2025 through 2028 and ordinance number 2025-72 by individual supervisors amending the Rine County Code of Ordinances Chapter 2 Article 2 Division 3 meetings section 2-89 recording streaming and retention of county board and committee meetings and sections 2-90 to 2-100 are reserved. If that

by the supervisor if that is your desire as chair. Yeah. Let's take ordinance number 202572 and and uh refer that to the executive committee. Item number eight, communications and claims.

Number one, notice of the exemption from county tax for library services for the year 2026 from Rine Public Library. And while it's not part of the document, I will note just for the county board's information that that was received from um the rine library prior to the adoption of the levy. Um but we did not get the document until after the last list of communications was prepared for the last county board meeting. So it was received in a timely manner.

So item number one is received and filed in the county clerk's office. Number two, application of American Transmission Company LLC as an electric public utility for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct and operate the Elmroad Rine transmission line project consisting of a new 345 KB transmission line docket 137 CE 215 located primarily in the city of Oak Creek, Milwaukee County, the city of Rine and the villages of Mount Pleasant and Calonia Rine County, Wisconsin from the public service commission of Wisconsin. And number three, application of Wisconsin Electric Power Company gas public utility for authority to construct the Rochester lateral project consisting of natural gas transmission main and associated facilities in the towns of Brighton, Dover, and Norway, the villages of Rochester, Raymond, and Calonia and the city of Oak Creek and Kenosha Renew counties, Wisconsin from the public service commission of Wisconsin.

Items number two and three are referred to the economic development and land use planning committee. Number four, annual reports for the farm drainage district for the period of September 1st, 2024 through August 31st, 2025 from the Rine County Board of Drainage Commissioners. Item number four is referred to the economic development and land use planning committee. Number five, Rine County Facilities Management Notable Project Status report for the month of November 2025. Item number five is referred to the public works parks and facilities committee. Number six, resolution urging legislative action to address county funding challenges under Wisconsin's tax levy freeze from Forest County.

Item number six is referred to the Finance and Human Resources Committee. Um items 7 through 10 are claims against Rine County. Number 11 through 13 are related to mortgage for closures and items number 14 through 43 are notifications from the United States Bankruptcy Court. So items number 7 through 43 I refer to the Finance and Human Resources Committee and Corporation Council. Any copies? Supervisor Horth. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I'd request copies, please, of numbers 2, three, four, and five. Supervisor Miller.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like six through 10. Supervisor Hoffman. Can I get copies of 2, three, six, seven, eight, nine, and 10, please? Supervisor Mcrenolds. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, copies of 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10. Supervisor Wish. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Can I get two and three? Supervisor Shakur. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, 78910, please. Supervisor Coleman. Thank you. 7 through 10.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, three and four, please. I'll take I'll take uh five, seven, eight, nine, and 10. And I'll jump. Supervisor Spencer for number five. Any other requests? Seeing none, we'll move on. Communications by the county executive. Uh, report number 2025-51 by county executive making appointments to the local emergency planning committee. I will refer that to government services and report number 2025-53 by county executive making appointment to the rine county board of health.

I'll refer that to health and human services. Item number item number 10, the standing committee reports containing recommendations on items referred. There are no reports. Second reading of resolutions and ordinances. Under majority vote this evening, we have resolution number 2025-61 by Finance and Human Resources Committee denying the property damage claim of Roger Palman Auto Sales Inc. and resolution number 2025-62 by Finance and Human Resources Committee denying the property damage claim of Logan Capey. Second. Motion has been made and seconded. Supervisor Miller.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. These are two denials of claims and as are uh is our normal protocol. If you have questions, you should contact corporation counsel. Are there any? So this is a majority voice vote. All in favor say I. Opposed. Motion's carried.

Now the items under twothirds majority vote. That would be resolution number 2025-55 by finance and human resources committee authorizing a multi-year agreement with RICO for Rine County's printing and services division within the finance department for a total of $1,200. Resolution number 2025-56 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing a multi-year agreement with Express Elevator for elevator maintenance and repair service at various county locations for a total of $263,683. Resolution number 2025-57 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the acceptance of Wisconsin Emergency Management Grant in the amount of $100,000 and transfer funds within the information technology 2025 budget. Resolution number 2025-58 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing a multi-year agreement for cyber security services for a total of $357,79. Resolution number 2025-59 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the settlement of a claim of JB Hunt. Resolution number 2025-60 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the settlement of the claim of Kevin Kelsey. Resolution number 2025-63 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing a temporary agreement with the village of Sturdivan for police services for a revenue total $452,655 and resolution number 2025-64 joint by executive committee and public works parks and facilities committee authorizing rine county to renew a lease agreement with JPM hospitality LLC for the operation and management of the Reef Point Brew House at Reef Point Marina.

For adoption, Mr. chairman would set for consideration for 202563. Motion's been made and seconded.

Supervisor Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh 2025-55 is a multi-year agreement with RICO for printing and services. uh they have been a longtime operator of our printing and services division uh which is in within the finance department. An RFP was issued in June of this year. Uh after a review of the RFP uh RICO was selected. This would be their third u renewal contract. Any questions? Supervisor Horth.

Yes, Mr. Chairman. and and frankly after going through these first four, five, five or six, uh, we're going to be talking about roughly $1.7 million, give or take, in all of them. My question is um I remember the discussions during the budgeting process on these various items, but is it inappropriate to request what line item or what budget this is up against so we can be able to determine that it's within lines because if it's not, I think we all should know that going in as opposed to just approving a million dollars and finding out we only had 900,000 approved. Well, we only have next year's budget approved. So, and these all fit within the parameters of next year's budget. The future is unknown beyond that. And that is that is our normal protocol. Okay. When you say they're within the parameters of next year's budget, you're saying there's a line item right now for this first one that basically says the RICO program or RICO contract is budgeted at a million dollars. No, not no because that would be for five years. It's only the first year which is 200,000. Okay. So, there is a line item that says that then. And I think that's the kind of thing I know I'm going to be asking about going forward just to make sure that I'm comfortable when I'm voting on something

that we've actually aligned a budget that's against what we're expecting to spend. Mhm. So, and by the way, I'll I I'll defer all my other comments on the rest of these because they're all the same. Yep. Thank you. Any further comments or questions on the recoil contracts? Supervisor Coleman, how long is this contract for? Five years. Five. Mhm. A million dollars for five years. Yeah, it's $200,040 each year through 2030. Okay,

I go on to the next. Any further questions? Proceed, Supervisor Miller. Thank you. um 202556 is for a multi-year agreement with Express Elevator and um there were competitive sealed bids. They were reviewed and the bid was awarded to Express Elevator. Again, this is a five-year contract. Uh the first year is 47,720 and it's a 5% increase for each of the next four years.

Any comments on the elevator contract? Supervisor wish. Um thank you Mr. Chairman. Is this a renewal? I do not think it is. No staff is here. Staff German facility. Hi. Uh, this is not a renewal. Previously, uh, Rine County was serviced for a number of years by Schindler Corporation and, um, as Supervisor Miller said earlier this year, the elevator contract was placed out for competitive bid

and Express Elevator would be a new provider. They were to the lowest bidder. And is this do they do they come on a regular basis to per maintenance? Correct. So, how often do they come? Monthly. So, they're in there monthly looking at each of the elevators wherever they correct. At the five facilities throughout the county that have elevators. Yes. Thank you. How many elevators do we have? It's a good trivia question. I was going to ask that, but 18. Three at the courthouse. there in in your packet from last meeting. There is a listing of all of the elevators. Is there at all of our facilities and there are 18

18 most of them in the law enforcement center. Any further question? By necessity. Any further questions? Supervisor Mcrenolds. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Would it be possible and make sense in future resolutions that have a multi-year agreement to add language um number one what what the term is and to the yearly breakdown? Could that language be put into future resolutions? We it is in the fiscal note, but would you like something in in addition to that?

I think that would make sense in the contract, right? Yeah. So, I mean, if that were to be formalized, an ordinance modification would be the appropriate vehicle. Um, but I can certainly make note of that. I can communicate that. Um, and we can make every effort to be more clear on those things, even notwithstanding a change in the ordinance. Um, but to Supervisor Miller's point that the information is in the fiscal note, the breakdown for each annual year, each annual cost. Any further questions?

Okay, moving on to 202557 and 58. These are both for uh cyber security enhancement. The first uh uses a grant from the Wisconsin Emergency Management um department uh of $100,000 and the second is a multi-year agreement for software and that is an amount of 357,79 and I don't if you have any specific questions uh our IT director is here.

Want to give a give us a little background on this, sir?

Uh, resolution 57 is the phase 2 cyber security grant from um Wisconsin Wisconsin emergency management. So, we're asking this body to um accept that that grant. Uh that grant is specific for MDDDR services. So, managed data detection and response services. So, it's um it's us upgrading our cyber security defenses and this grant allows us to pay for some of those uh software services. That's uh number 57. Uh 58 is the software contract that we want to have for the MDR services. Um, that's one aspect of our cyber defense and that is a three-year contract for 357,000 and we've also put it as an option for an additional 3 years with um not not to exceed 5% of the initial contract. So broken down, it's about 119,000 year 1 2 and three. And then year four, five, and six, it's 5% of 119,000 flat for years four, five, and six. Um, so as we mentioned, we're trying to get longerterm contracts to avoid the software increases.

Any questions? Mr. Chair, I think that was a good point and there were good questions about multi-year contracts, but there is no doubt by having multi-year contracts, the county realizes significant savings versus doing it yearbyear. So, um well, I think it's u very appropriate to ask about the length and uh you know, the projections. Uh when you have a long-term contract, you save money. Supervisor Horse.

Thank you again, Mr. Chairman. And I know I said a moment ago that I would be fine with the rest, but I lied. I have another comment I need to make because first of all, I understand both of these and it makes sense to me, the long-term contract, etc. But again, not knowing what line this is against. I don't know whether or not you're giving us something. I say you rhetorically, yes, whether we're being presented with something that is within what was originally agreed to when we did the budgeting process or not. And the second part of this one is that we just finished the budget. And maybe it's terminology that I'm getting confused on, but if we just finished the budget, why are we having to transfer funds within a department for $100,000 to be able to pay for something?

Mr. Chairman, it's because it's a new grant grant that we received subsequent to the budget approval. So the transfer then is from what to what? because I would have thought that would have been a part of the budget. We anticipated. So we when we receive a grant, it gets a line item and then it gets transferred to where it's going for what purpose? Okay. So it is sitting in the line item for the grants at this point. Yep. Well, this is a a complete action. we're accepting and applying it all in one one action.

And and for the the benefit of the board, if you look at the fiscal note at the top of, for example, uh 20258's fiscal note, it says there are sufficient funds to cover the 2025 contract. And that was uh these were anticipated in the budget deliberations, Mr. Chairman. Okay. At this point, I'll I'll defer any other comments afterwards, but I'm I'm still a little uncomfortable with not what they're presenting, but the way this is now aligning with what we just approved a few weeks ago, right? And where we can then validate what we approved is in front of us saying this aligns with that.

Okay, that's it. So, we'll leave it at that and thank you for the opportunity,

Supervisor Pritsker. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, just a point of clarification. It does look like resolution uh 20255 does state in the resolution that it's for the periods January 1st, 2026 to December 31st, 2030. So, it does say it's a 5year, but I agree with the other supervisors that it'd be helpful to have that just noted in the agenda. Okay. So because it's referring to the first reading because last and and and and I it is in the fiscal note document that it was handed out last last month or last uh board meeting,

right? So maybe it's a question for corporation council. I mean I don't think it you have to change the resolution necessarily. Um I don't even know if it's a legal action to just be more specific on the agenda. We can be more specific for like a three-year multi-year contract as this one is or a five-year contract. Okay. Thank you. That we can do, but again, it is in the fiscal notes. I I know I'm agreeing with that. It's also in the resolution. It's just the resolution isn't in today's meeting packet or on the agenda, but it was last meeting. Thank you.

Any other questions? do want to answer a supervisor or question. Go ahead. This was part of our um budget that we just went through. So, it is an ey line item a line item under our subscriptions uh budget. So, we did anticipate that we would need these types of services. So, these MDR services um we do have to get them in place. They're insurance requirement. So, we did put them in the budget and and it was approved as part of that. A and actually I was aware of that and part of my line of questioning is also to establish going forward because we just went through some very difficult times trying to address the budget needs and so I know that I am now personally and I think many of the supervisors are dialed in on okay what we agreed to that's what we move forward with but not hearing that as we're going through these presentations I'm just going to continue to ask those questions just to make sure that we're getting the information that okay we all approved we agreed to so thank you very much and I was aware of it and I'm glad you mentioned it

ju and just to follow up again good questions but if you look at the fiscal note I'm referencing again the top line shows the budget account number current budget and the current balance so um you can tell whether or not it fits what we approved Any further questions? Resolution 59. Supervisor Miller.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Both 59 and 60 are settlement of claims. And again, as I said before, uh our normal protocol is if you have questions regarding that, contact corporation counsel. And resolution 63 64 64, excuse me. 63. Uh yeah, that's going to be separate separate consideration. So 64 is authorizing a renewal of the lease um of JPM hospitality for the management of Roof Point Brew House. And our marina manager is here if there are questions on that item.

Are there any questions? Supervisor Hopkins or or Meer, would you want to address anything there? No. I will say that I took some uh family members to Reef Point Brew House for Thanksgiving. Was one of the few establishments o open. We had a very good time.

Are there any questions? Okay. So, this is a twothirds majority vote. Okay. So no There we go. We

All have voted and motion carries unanimously. All right. Now, Supervisor Miller 202563. So, yes, this is a a temporary contract with the village of Stur Sturdivan for police services and both uh sheriff and captain Madreal are here uh for any questions. Are there any questions? Supervisor Wish. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Who's that next to you? He's out of He's out of uniform. Yeah. Just making your sweatshirt for a uniform as well. So, we both can give it. That's fair.

Temporary. What What's the definition of temporary on the agreement? So, uh, it's temporary in nature because we are looking to move towards a long-term contract with Surfent. Um, we're looking at a minimum five-year contract. But when that is going to come in front of the board, it's not like it can be approved and the next day we start. I mean, there's we have to hire bodies and everything that goes along with that. So the temporary is Sturdivan Police Department dissolved and while they were trying to contract for services since July August, uh they ended up losing officers along the way and they were down to four officers left trying to cover 24 hours a day and um they really could not move beyond November. nomber 16th at 6 a.m. And so they shut down their police department. Uh we have been covering the area of Sturdivan, one officer on every shift, so 24 hours a day. And that's at a rate of overtime. And so the temporary is to get us between that November 16th until we get approval for a long-term contract. in the temporary it um basically gives us through April 15 of 2026 to get that completed.

You're you're covering with one officer per shift.

Right now we are Sturdivan would like us to have two officers on every shift. So double what we are providing right now. Uh however it's you know it's holidays it's very difficult for us to be providing two people on overtime on every shift right now. So when this was discussed I explained that to them and we're not at full staff right now. So, uh, you know, it it's it would be difficult for us to provide anything more than one officer every shift until we have a long-term contract with them.

The last discussion that I heard was there were three officers left. One was uh not interested in coming on, but you had two officers that were interested in coming to the sheriff's department. Correct. We currently have uh we have hired four. I I apologize. We have hired three. They're in the FTO process and a fourth one has a offer on the table. He's going through his psych exam right now. So, we anticipate a start date for that fourth uh previous Sturdivan officer to be in January. Okay. I worked in Sturdivan for 17 years and I managed the Milliger store there. M

uh we had many alarm calls, you know, more than I would like to see because I get a call in the middle of the night and I'd have to get in the car and drive over there. Uh there were at least two two sher two police officers that would respond to those calls. I don't know if things have changed. I haven't been there in a long time, but uh to me that was an abnormal amount of breakin or attempted. Uh my concern is having one officer. I mean obviously you'd have somebody else there. What's the lead time do you think or the time that somebody else can respond?

The reality is while when I say that we have one officer working Sturdivant, it's just that is where they are assigned to. They are working within the village of Sturdivant, we still have um E squads. Um on first and third shift we have two and on second we have three. So anytime that you know that one officer that is working Sturdivvent requires backup or you know there's an additional call it's going to be one of our other E squads that's going to respond to Sturd event to so hypothetically you get an alarm call and someone's got to respond to that that one officer is going to respond. Do you send back up immediately or do you wait for him to him or her to respond?

Well we would send multiple squads to that. That's a priority call. Okay. So we would send multiple squads. Um but when the first officer arrives, you know, they may check the door, you know, prior to entering. It's our training to wait to enter until you have more than one person. So the protocol is two officers. Mhm. Okay. That answers that. I have one more question. Go ahead.

Or one more comment. I don't know if you're aware of it, but several weeks ago, WTMJ reported that um some local constituents of Sturdivan um went to the police department. There was a sign on the door that said we're no longer in service or whatever it said. TMJ reported that there was nothing in the works at that point. Um, I called the radio station from my car on my way to work and let them know what I knew as far as that there was a tempor or there was a temporary or whatever you want to call this agreement. Um, are you aware of that? Well, well, I I they were misinformed or

I can't speak to news media outlets, but I think everyone in this room understands how the news media reports. I mean, they report what they choose to report. I'm not going to speculate what TMJ Ford decided to report or what they choose not to report. Nor will I uh support anything they put on their door. They don't ask us for that information. I can only tell you folks what we choose to supply and and that is top level law enforcement services. We are not going to let and I told my team and I'll tell all of you today and I'll tell our community. I will not let any citizen here in Rene County go without services of law enforcement protection. Now that said, will it be delayed until I can get someone there with snowstorms and all these other variables that may occur? Supervisor Wish, but at the end of the day, I'm not going to speculate what news media outlets choose to report, how they choose to report it, the manner in which they report it, or signs on doors. I don't speculate on that. I've been in this business way too long to to engage in that sort of environment. I I just don't do that. I live in the real world where real people need real services and they need top level law enforcement services and that's what we provide.

They did make a correction after I called in. It was at the end of their newscast. Um I you know it is concerning to me because I had to respond to some of those uh alarm calls and I was first in and having only one officer there concerns me and u that area is very uh susceptible to shoplifting uh and caravans uh people come in and you know have firsthand experience in it. So that's my concern. It's interesting you bring that up because I have also been going stopping in at businesses and so has Captain Madrical and and many of our supervisors stopping at local businesses in Sturdivan just to see and put our I guess our our toes in the water if you will as to what their expectations are and what they're used to. And I can tell you firsthand is that what they're used to is not what they deserve. Um, and what they have seen as of late, uh, from this temporary contract, which we've already been doing, which by the way is going to generate nearly a half a million dollars by April 15th, um, is something they're not used to receiving. I've been getting calls from different uh, business owners and stopping in and hearing how delightful it is uh, to work at the educator's bank or at a local pizza shop and seeing our deputies in their parking lot or stopping and asking, "How are things going?" Um, that's what they're seeing from the sheriff's office. So, um, at the end of the day, these are services that we ought to be providing as a sheriff's office, but they're are willing to provide us with, uh, well, nearly a half a million dollars by by April 15th of next year. So, I'm proud of that. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, it does take time to to recruit uh, to train u, and and to get get our staff up to speed uh, to get them where we have those two officers there uh, at the ready. But uh we live in a dynamic environment here. I mean we have snowstorms that are very uncharacteristic as we all know. Uh our

response time is going to be delayed as they should be. Uh I would expect that if there's a snowstorm tonight, I expect our time is going to be delayed. We can't just drop out of the sky and drop into your backyard and help you. It's going to take us time to get there. And I would ask our citizens to recognize that, you know, we are human beings just like all of you in this room. And we need time to get there. We need time to get there safely. I don't want to come to this committee and tell you about how many squad cars we wrecked up during the next snowstorm. I don't want any of that. I want us to get there safely. I want us to get there uh promptly and I want us to deliver top level law enforcement services as this community is used to uh to receiving. This is an amazing uh opportunity for Rine County uh and Sturivan. I I the certivant residents that I've spoken to and all of us I'm sure are going to hear some controversy to this but at the end of the day I I truly believe and I'm sure Captain Madrical will agree with me is that the folks in Sturivan they want some change. You know they're they're used to something that uh is substandard and the business owners that I spoke to and the constituents that I've spoken to and I've been in this job for 32 years. Well 31 and a half uh and your sheriff for half of that. Um I I put my ear to the ground. I talked to a lot of folks and there's there's controversy on both sides of the fence, but at the end of the day, what they're seeing today is is exceptional exceptional to what they've been seeing in the past. So, I'm proud of that and all of us in this room should be proud of that as well. And we can laugh if you want, but I'm the guy who's out there providing

laughing at, you know, I don't like to burmer anybody, but like I said, I was first one in. They were there. They had me go in first. I had to carry an arm. I I carry a pistol with me whenever I had an alarm call. I no longer have to do that or don't do that anymore. Can I ask you a question? Who asked you to go in first? They did. My deputies. No, no, no. When he was Yes. Oh, I say my guys are not I am I am familiar with the Trust me. Yeah. I I would rather see your guys involved. Thank you. Because we would never let you go in first. No. before the existing I'll take your backup though. I'll never turn down backup but you're not going in first. Yeah. No. So anyway,

I I appreciate those comments. Thank you, sir.

If I can just add one thing. Um when we talk about the April 15th um the goal is um my goal I should say is to come before the finance, human resources and government services sooner rather than later. I'm hoping in January. I know um I'm in conversation with um Michael Landorf regarding that long-term contract because the April 15th deadline is that's when we would stop the rate of overtime and you know start with the regular time long term. Now the the temporary memorandum is actually it can go up until then. It would be better if we could get the long-term approved earlier so that we can get recruiting, we can get training and get them in place because the figure picture is the while this temporary is $452,000 the one year is nearly 1.3 million. So,

Supervisor Horth, thank you. And first and foremost, Sheriff Captain, thank you for your services and especially during this time of year, the holidays is always more difficult. So, we appreciate everything that you're doing. And I have a fairly simple question, I hope, and it might it be again interpretation, but when I read the resolution, it says that the revenue total that's coming in is 452,000. What's the expense that's going to be needed to achieve that? That is the expense. So, it's not a revenue. No, I mean it's the cost of a deputy.

No, I understand. I'm just saying this is our language really. I mean it says in the resolution that for police services for a revenue total of 452,000. So my assumption is the county is getting paid 452,000 for the services you're going to be providing. Correct. Okay. So my question is what are your expenses to be able to provide that? Is it 452,000 or is it something more or less than that? It it is just that I mean that is the rate of the overtime that we are paying our deputies to fulfill those positions. So it's a neutral number then whatever you're spending in whatever it's costing you

is what is being build out. So there's zero impact to your expense budget. Correct.

I mean relatively speaking. One one of the things that we uh made certain of is that when we talked about this is that this conversation has been going on for many many months prior to this date today. And there was a lot of conversations in Sturdivant. Uh the captain and I and several members of my team were in the village of Sturdivant talking to a very very large group much even larger than this about um what services we provide and and just so you know I didn't go there looking for this contract. they came to us, they were experiencing a lot of problems, but the end of the day, I don't want to get into those weeds, but um but we talked about if we had a contract today, this is what it would look like. And now that they pushed a can and kicked the can down the road, here we are on on the heels of Christmas, um we're looking at how can we provide these services when I hired four of their men and women. um they have other uh men and women who've left their organization and they have others that just decided they don't want to do this job. So now they look at us and as the sheriff's office, we have a statutory obligation, an obligation to provide law enforcement services, right? They could simply have a chief of police, which they currently have, and they could have one officer that says, you know, we're going to handle ordinances uh in the village of Sturdivan, and anything remotely major, we're going to turn it over to the sheriff's office. and and don't even send us a bill, sheriff, because we're not going to pay it because you have an obligation to do that. But they're not saying that. They're saying, "We want these services. We want this to happen. We want you to be at that school and that school, and in exchange for that, at the end of this contract, we'll pay you $1.3 million a year." I think that's a win-win. Now, they could simply say, "We're not going to do that." and just subject to well when the call comes in the services provided the sheriff has to provide those services by statute we roll in stat and I tell you it would be a huge disservice to the village of sturdivant residents because why we're going to be

greatly delayed because I don't I don't have the ability to hire more deputies without this this this body's approval I I will have to subject myself to whatever I have on staff at the time so our our time is going to be delayed our our response time is going to be greatly delayed and when dar comes to emergencies We can all imagine what that looks like. So I I think the the the reality is is that is this ideal? Um no. But does it make sense fiscally and public safety? Um absolutely. And I I've reminded this board routinely is that at the end of the day um and I I'm sure many of you are probably tired of hearing me say this, but I truly believe this in my heart. I I've been doing this for a very long time is at the end of the day um it is is government's responsibility is to protect its people. You know businesses flourish. There are business owners in this room. Businesses flourish when people feel safe and comfortable in their own shoes in their own home at church at play at school and all the rest. We always hear about these bad things that are happening throughout our community. And when law enforcement intervenes and there is adequate staffing, and you're going to hear about on Friday, I'm doing a presentation, I I believe in this room, Carrie, um about one of our deputies who who was on time and got into a house and rescued a four-year-old child uh from a burning home. These are just some of the examples that law enforcement does when it's properly staffed and properly trained. Uh and this board should take credit for that.

Sheriff, if I may, if I may, no disrespect at all. I think we all get that and that wasn't even my question. My question is that because of what I heard earlier where we have things changed, it's dynamic going forward. You never know. I guess I'm only looking to find out that whatever you spend to support Sturdivan, we're going to ensure that that doesn't have a negative impact on the expenses of the county as a result of that service being provided.

In other words, if you say that it's going to be 450, check. But if it all of a sudden becomes $550 because they've had all kinds of protests and they've had all kinds of issues, I think we need to know that they're going to then subsidize that additional $100,000 and we're not going to have to pick it up as a county. That's that was my only question and I understand all the other things you're sharing. I I think what you're asking is for me to predict a future and I I got No, I didn't. No, no, I'm sorry. With all due respect, I didn't say predict the future. I only You said you said an undue protest. How can I How can I predict that? I we don't know. All I'm saying, you don't know and I don't know. They're going to pay for it if you supply it. That's the only thing I'm looking for.

Exactly. And I I think we have done a great job calculating what we feel is going to be an appropriate level of law enforcement services for the village of Sturivan. For me to predict something that may or may not happen in the future is unwise for me to do today. Simple. I I'll respond very simply and I'm done then. I think I've answered your question, but go ahead. Well, no, I don't think you have, but I respect the opinions. My only comment is that if we in fact spend more because of the services you're having to give than 450,000, are they going, they being certain, are they going to be responsible to pay that difference?

No. So if you end up having to spend $550,000 because of some emergency that happens in Certivan, the county is having to pick up the additional $100,000.

So let me give you an example. So during a civil unrest, we had some civil unrest here in Rene and um we called in Kenosha, we had Milwaukee, Oak Creek, countless um organizations come into our community. Did we send them a bill? You weren't a board member then. I was uh and as a sheriff wouldn't send them a bill, but when they asked us for help, we didn't send them a bill either. That's what law enforcement does. We can't predict the future. We pretend or see, we we count on each other uh for law enforcement services. We can only predict what's in front of us. I can't predict what the future is going to hold. The best number, sir, that we have uh for April 15th is 452,000. that covers the taxpayers that are paying our bills. Now, if something bad happens in Sturdivant or in Mount Pleasant, if Mount Pleasant called me tomorrow and said, "We have this catastrophe that happened," I can tell you this. I'm going to help them and I'm not going to send them a bill. That's just the way it works in law enforcement. Now, Sturman could suggest, as I mentioned earlier, that you know what, we're just going to stick with our one police chief and maybe two officers and we're going to respond to ordinance violations and anything remotely major. We're just going to turn over to the sheriff. We're not going to send them a bill. We can't send them a bill. And they have no obligation to pay it. They have a population over 5,000. They have a police department, a police chief. They can say we have adequate policing services according to state statute. And everything beyond that they're going to turn over to the sheriff. And I have to respond to that. By state statute,

I can't just send them a bill. They're willing to pay us money to provide policing services. Let me just finish. They're willing to play us pay us money to provide policing services. You're asking me to predict something that may or may not happen in the future. This is an adequate this is an accurate bill that we're sending them. It's disappointing saying that I am saying I'm asking you to predict it. I never said it. And from the third time now, I haven't said a word about Well, you said if it came up to 500,000, should I build them? The answer is no. I'm not paying. I asked, should they be paying for it? That was my question. No, then that's your answer. Then we get the chance. I said that twice now. Understand it?

You asked it three times. I've answered it twice. I'll answer it three times now. The answer is no. Okay, then we can leave it at that. Very good. Let's leave it at that. Any other questions? We can agree to disagree. Just a second here. We can agree to go to the next question. Let's Is there any other questions? Supervisor Mc Reynolds. Um earlier it was stated that uh right now the sheriff's department is not at full capacity as far as deputies. Um what is that number and what are you short right now? Would be the my first question.

Okay. I didn't know if you're going to go on with the other ones. Okay. So, when I talk about we're not at full staff, this means a couple different things. So, I think of full staff is they're all hired, they are all through the academy, they're all trained, and they're all available to me. They all count, if that makes sense. I can use them for anything, right? Um, there are right now six deputies that are in the academy, so they fill a spot, but they don't count to me. Okay? But they do count towards staffing, right? Because you're paying them. Makes sense to me. Um there are currently with the two retirements that we will be we have one of the papers the other one is coming tomorrow. Um they're leaving in January with their uh retirements. We will have five openings. Okay. Now that is literally five people that are not on the books yet. They're not getting paid. There are currently four deputies who have contingent offers. One of them being the one I spoke about earlier um previous officer. Um that they have the offer, they have to go through the medical, the physical, I'm sorry, the drug testing, the medical test, the psychological, the background, all of that. And then they have to go in front of the civil service commission and get the final blessing that yes, you can be hired. Um, so right now there are three open spots. In three weeks there will be five open spots plus the four that have contingent offers. So, it it's always fluctuating and I it

probably I threw a lot of numbers out there and I apologize, but right now if I um if people were in line to take a job, we could take on five more. We're always recruiting and training. Yeah.

Okay. And then my next question would be if those positions get filled, not not even looking at the Sturdivan contract, once those positions are filled, when the long-term contract is lock locked in, could you execute and and provide services with those additional deputies, or are you going to be coming back and asking for additional once those are filled on top of those positions? We will be asking for 10 positions. I can tell you that is how many bodies we need to fill that certain contract. So, one of the things that if everybody can sort of remember back to um when Rine County had the reputation of don't drive on the interstate through Rine County because there's how many squads? At one time we had 14 deputies that were assigned to our interstate. 14. And we talk about the decline in the amount of dollars that we see in revenue. There's a reason because we can't fill those interstate spots. Okay? Because those are like the extras. I need guys that are working straight patrol. So when someone retires or we have these open positions, I have to pull those guys off the interstate to fill to work east, to work northwest, to work south middle, all those areas. So right now today, I have four officers that are assigned to that interstate position. And I can tell you that at least threearters of the time they are pulled out of that to backfill a spot on patrol due to a sick call, a vacation or

something else. So the goal I believe in this, you know, county board's goal is to get reen back to a point where we are known as don't go speeding through our interstate because you're going to get stopped. Now, if that's not the goal and we don't care about that extra revenue that we're not seeing coming in, you know, I mean, we we have positions that have been left open now, like people are not filling it because we don't have the people that are done with the academy, people that are, you know, hired and through and ready. But I think we'd be doing Ring County a disservice if we didn't fill the positions that we need right now and get us back to where we should be, let alone the three positions that we lost that we did not get those back. Um, and we're going to need an additional 10 positions to fill the Sturdament contract. And listen, this is not a debate about how many people are up there writing traffic citations on 94. And I know

I I'm sorry. I No, no, it's fine. Just let me just interject for a second because can we can we get back to the Sturdivan question? Not so much the staffing. We we kind of, you know, I just want to address one thing. Well, we're talking about the Sturdivan contract and we are and and and the Sturdivan contract is important, but it's also important to recognize is that our deputies u along the interstate system, and I know Supervisor Wish has brought this up, but but the Sturdivan Sturman contract Let me finish please. The pro question was raised. Let me answer the question. The question is was he didn't he didn't raise the question. He did. Your captain was talking about the interstate. I'm talking about the sturdan. We have drastically we have Mr. Chairman point of order drastically reduced

point of order. Point of order. Point of order. There are many issu I I think I would ask corporation council if we can talk about other issues outside of the uh st of contract.

The one the one thing that I would caution the body and and representatives of the sheriff's office is there's two separate issues. There's the issue that's before the board for action this evening, which is the temporary contract, the temporary memorandum of understanding that does not entail additional staffing that does cover overtime um that covers some of those things. There's the second issue which is the multi-year contract which is not before body this evening. And so just for the sake of clarity and to stay within the confines of the open meetings law, I would just caution that we should try to focus the discussion on the issue at hand, which is the temporary contract.

So let me let me ask a question. The the wages now I've been briefed on it, but the wages are at overtime. Is that correct? Correct. In the temporary. In the temporary. And that carries through through the whole temporary because we're gonna have to pay overtime. Correct.

Yes. And it looks like we we we put in the retirement compensation, life insurance, health insurance, all the benefit package. So, and these are this is one shift and then we're going to gradually work up if we if we can or is it going to be one shift for the duration of the temporary contract until we get the permanent contract? It's what it is right now is what it'll be throughout the as long as the temporary contract goes. One deputy per shift.

Okay. So, we're getting paid. We're we're we're paying we're we're getting paid for the deputy paid overtime with the bill overtime benefits workman's comp. The whole thing is added in there. So, it there's no real cost to the county be are they paying for the mileage on the vehicles also then? Yes. No. Okay. Any further questions? Mr. Chairman, just supervisor Vance.

Yes, just one quick well one comment about uh you know I I support this but one one comment going forward is if there can be some potential fallback in the as you're negotiating this future contract if there is unforesee we're not we're just talking about this contract here. I know, but it's it's kind of gerine to what we're doing with this. So, let's not test the waters because it is a hot topic in certain areas. Supervisor Pritsker.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Chief Deputy Weiner presented at the government services committee meeting last week and there was a lot of discussion about this contract and some of the supervisors had questions. Um and I'll maybe address some of those here in case it helps some of the supervisors um here. But um there's a lot of questions about the providing service without the temporary agreement in place. TMJ or got it wrong. I mean there is no situation where there is a gap in service. The the county law enforcement is the law enforcement service of last resort. So, um, the parade of horribles that we need to recognize as a county board is that at any moment, any underlying municipality and the county, villages of a certain size or cities can decide to do this exact same thing. They could abandon their police force at any moment and the county would have to pick that up as a statutory obligation. Um, in theory or in a perfect world, it should be done in advance of that decision, but it doesn't always happen that way in in reality, and that's the case with Certiv. So, as soon as Certivan decided they weren't going to do at the county had to pick it up, um all we're negotiating now with the temporary or the long-term contract is just the local service preferences, right? So, how many people do they want on every shift? Do they want uh special event coverage? Uh do they want people in their in their buildings? Do they want cars marked specifically disturbance? Uh and those will be worked out. Um, and then I think you addressed maybe you can address some of the things that are in the contract. Um, it's more than just mileage and and labor, but you also are accounting for administrative overhead, for example, and some legal and liability risk coverage as part of the contract. So, it's it's trying to make the county as whole as possible for for known services. And it's a half a million dollars for, you know, one person for a couple months, one shift.

Yeah. And we have gone great to great lengths to make sure the county is whole. Thank you. Any further questions?

Thank you. So, we have a motion and a second. So this is a 2/3 majority vote. 15 in favor. The motion passes.

Thank you. Item number 12, reconsideration of resolutions and ordinances from previous meetings and/or action on vetos. There are none. Reconsideration of and of notice of intent to reconsider resolutions and ordinances. There is no notice.

Item number 14,formational reports. Report number 2025-52 by County Finance and Human Resource Resources Committee authorizing the settlement of the workers compensation claim of Deonte Brown and report number 2025-54 by County Finance and Human Resources Committee announcing the distribution of sales and use revenue use tax revenue for November 2025. Miscellaneous business announcements and oral reports. Supervisor Shakur.

Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh this is our last meeting in October, excuse me, in December if I understand it. And I think that the ladies over there are correct. Uh with that being said, I want to um wish all the best for force the district that I represent, the second supervisory district. But in in addition to that, I would just like to say blessings to each and every individual all over wonderful Ring County uh and of course including all members of this honorable honorable board of supervisors. So seasons greetings, enjoy your families and your neighbors and friends and wishing everyone all the best as we f go into 2026. Thanks.

Thank you, Supervisor. I'd like to also extend holiday greetings to everybody who's listening in tonight and seeing us on the internet and to all my colleagues here in the room and that are couldn't make it. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. Are there any supervisor? Just want to say cuz we got a few birthdays for our people in the room, Liz, Tom, me. So, we won't be able we'll see each other after the new year. So, happy early birthday to all of us and happy holidays to our constituents. Happy birthday.

No, wait, wait, not yet,

supervisor. Thank you. I have a couple things. So, um, some of you who are mentors of our youth and governance, uh, got an email from me asking to reach out to your mentee to see if they could use some help in their schools. Thank you, Supervisor Miller, for posing the question on which schools have have nominations thus far and which ones don't. I'm going to name the ones that don't just in case if it is some way you have some connections to reach out. We have yet to see receive any nominations for Walden, Waterford, Real School, St. Catz, and Mosquo. So, if you happen to have some connections there, please reach out. Uh, I will note that Burlington only has one, Catholic Central only has one, Rine Luther only has one, Case High School only has one, Union Grove only has two. So, uh, please, uh, if that is your district, uh, reach out on your desk. you will see there is a nomination form. It is so simple and it's just a QR code. If you want to do it electronic, there is a a way to do it also just um by print. Uh reach out if you need help with that. One last thing, you all received an email from Jeff Lattis. Uh if you recall on our communications that come before us, uh you'll notice that there are some foreclosures. here is a process where we can reach out to our constituents before it gets that far. Jeff Lattis has created some great programs within the Treasury office. And so, um, take a look at that email that he sent out on Monday. That was roughly about 2:30. And take a list, a look at the list. Uh, there probably are some constituents within your district. uh if they haven't reached out to you, it's an opportunity as you're going out there getting your signatures for your nominations to uh knock on the door of them because sometimes the process is uh quite

intimidating. But if you let them know that uh get them in contact with Jeff Lattis, he can help them and hopefully uh ward off uh app uh foreclosure and keep them into their keep them in their homes. So um thank you. That was it. We are adjourned. Thank you.