County Board - Regular Meeting

Melina, apparently they can see and hear us, but they haven't started yet. Okay, very good. Thank you.

Yeah. Well, good evening. I'd like to call the committee of the whole uh meeting to order. And uh our first item in the agenda is a discussion regarding the salary compensation study prepared by McGrath human resource group. And I going to turn it over to the county executive Maliki. Good evening everyone. Tonight you're going to hear the uh introduction to the salary study and there's some things I want you to consider. Um one of them would be that the cost of not conducting a study would have been greater than actually doing the study. Those in business understand that the cost of turnover is great. Losing institutional knowledge is an issue. When we lose experienced employees, we're not aligned with the market. We lose institutional knowledge and productivity which ultimately affects the services that we provide. County government work in a lot of areas is very difficult and the compensation for it should be appropriate. Many of our employees are 247. the corrections officers, the uh YDCC employees, the snowplow operators, they were on call often, right? And this year they got a workout. Um these roles require resil resilience, professionalism, and a strong commitment to public service. And one of the things that I've been pushing for is increased customer service to our taxpayers. So as you look at this and you look at the salary study, consider those things. Okay. Thanks.

Thank you, Dr. Street.

Hello. Good evening. Um so tonight we're here to discuss everybody's favorite topic, salary studies. Um salary studies are both essential and challenging um for every organization. Why are they so difficult? It's because we know that people are who provide the services that make our systems work and we want to pay them appropriately. But we're also challenged with the reality of our budgetary constraints. But it is our responsibility to ensure that we remain competitive enough to recruit, retain, and support a qualified workforce. For decades, keeping pace with peer counties has been an ongoing challenge. Well, constant comparison is not the goal. My role is to help the county executive and this board make datadriven decisions by periodically validating not only our wages, but our benefits and our organizational structure so that the county leadership can responsibly support our workforce and essential services that we provide to rine county. Wages represent the county's single largest expense, which makes a salary study an essential tool for responsible decision-making. It provides clarity about where we are competitive and where improvements might be needed. It tells us where compression might exist and where job responsibilities have evolved beyond the original classification. A third-party datadriven study equips the board with reliable information so that compensation decisions can be made by this board can be strategic and defensible. Just to recap how we got to this point where we are today. Um on June 19th of 2024 after receiving approval from the county executive, I requested funding to conduct a salary study from the finance

and HR committee. On July 8th of 2024, the board approved that request unanimously through resolution 2024-20. The contract was signed in late November of 2024 and the work began in January of 2025. Um so before we hear the present tonight's presentation, I also want to give you all a little context about um our current salary arrangement. So every single position at the county is assigned with a paygrade and that pay payrade has a defined salary that includes a minimum and a midpoint and a maximum. Over time our compensation struct compensation structure has become increasingly complex. For example, when the public health division was incorporated into the county in 2022, we retained their existing pay structure and that added 13 new pay grades to our system. Also, when we made changes to the behavioral health division to create credential-based pay progression, we added another 13 pay grades. In addition, we have been addressing compensation concerns on a case-byase basis rather than an overall comprehensive look, which has resulted in additional pay grades being created whenever positions fell behind the market and required immediate attention. This study will evaluate 886 full-time positions across the county. It does not include deputies or command staff or elected officials. This process has been comprehensive, collaborative, and it's involved the county executive, department heads, elected constitutional officers, and our consultant with McGrath. The present presentation you're going to hear tonight will provide the foundation

for determining our next steps, including an overview of methology, methodology, market analysis, and recommendations. Following this presentation, the final report will be shared with the board and implementation options including the fiscal impact will be considered at the finance and human resources committee on March 4th with first reading on March 10th and a second reading on March 24th. So with that, I will turn it over to Melena Halverson Maize with McGrath um who conducted um this study and is here to report tonight. She is with us virtually tonight but will be in person at the next FHR meeting on March 4th. So, thanks. I'll turn it over to you, Molina.

Very good. And uh good evening. I apologize that I could not be there in person this evening. I'm actually in Wasilla, Alaska, and I'll be heading back to Wisconsin here uh in just a few short hours. Uh, and I I I have to just say that your county executive and your HR director uh with their opening remarks, they they absolutely um you know have gotten to the essence of of this particular topic. I do have a PowerPoint presentation and I I do believe that um there's going to be somebody who's going to be navigating that uh for me that and while somebody is is getting that queued up um I do want to uh quickly just say a big thank you to the human resources uh department personnel. they have been part of these meetings since the beginning of this process and it really has been quite uh quite an extensive process because you are such a large organization and you were very very complex and so there have been multiple multiple meetings along the way. I also want to give a a big thanks to the department heads the um department head elected officials as well. Um, you know, I have had um nothing less than two meetings. In some cases, I've had up to four meetings with with uh some of these departments just to talk through particular issues. And they've been very gracious in those conversations and made sure that uh that that we had a a a very good understanding from both sides uh about clarifications on positions. And then lastly, I want to thank the employees because they were part of this process. Uh and well, we're going to talk about that here when I explain my methodology. Uh we had our your employees give us information, very specific information about what their position responsibilities are so that we could incorporate that into our recommendations. All right, so looks

like we've got that queued up and if we want to just um advance to the next slide very quickly and I'm not going to belabor this. Uh you know there's always a question about why we should be doing a compensation a compensation study. Uh compensation studies uh you know the goal of that is to develop a structured system for you. That structured system uh we want that to be aligned to the to the compar comparable competitive market. If it's not aligned with the market, you're going to have turnover and that is that is going to be costly to the organization. And given that uh you we all want to make sure that we are transparent uh and that we have objective methodologies um uh with our with our processes. Um we we have some very um specific objective foundational tools that we use in our studies uh so that we are evaluating all of the market. We are evaluating all of the positions with the same lens and we don't have what this what the county currently has with which is a little bit of a band-aid approach. You have a lot of of various um systems that are being um band-aid uh taped together. Uh what we really wanted to do for you is to give you one overarching system for the county to be able to maintain with all of your classifications going forward. So with that in mind, um looks like we are at Yep. Let's skip ahead here to human capital. All right. So there's a lot of that's going on in the in the market right now and it's very evident in that in the past five or six years that public sector has um struggled with

recruitment and retention. We know that by looking at the the 10-year numbers that that actually started before COVID COVID really did have quite an impact and it it led to a lot of people uh being ageel eligible to retire. they were hanging around their organizations and then uh COVID hit and and folks just decided that they were going to hang it up. And so we saw an acceleration of turnover within uh within the public sector and there have been continued challenges over the years that that um that for some reason we just don't feel like public sector is getting ourselves caught up. Some of the reasons for that and number one is compensation. Now compensation didn't always used to be number one on the total number of reasons why a person leaves their position but it is number one in most surveys at this point. So number one is compensation. Number two is private sector options. And I will say that you also are are in a region where you have a lot of public sector options. you have uh you have state systems, university systems, uh a lot of other large municipalities in your area and you're saturated with opportunity both private and public. Some employees view public sector as having lack of growth opportunity. Uh part of that is because we don't do a good job marketing ourselves in public sector. Uh, and so whether that is a perception or a reality, there's just is a big feeling that I I don't have a lot of opportunity, so I'm not going to stay very long. Poaching is a very effective tool at this point. uh and I will say that probably your HR department can attest to that that whether you're trying to grab people from other organizations or you are you running the

risk that you lose these individuals you spend a lot of time and resource training individuals making sure that they understand your policies and procedures and protocols for Racine County and then when they take that skill set and they leave you have all of that like the like your county executive said you have all of that institutional knowledge knowledge that is walking away, but then you also have all of the financial um training and development that you put into that human capital that's also then uh taking all of that and and um going and working for a new organization. So, we can tell that things are starting to settle out a little bit in the market at least in very specific industries. There are other industries that are not settling out quite yet. Uh but overall we are seeing things that are starting to calm down but we consider this to be very fragile. That is not to say that everything has calmed down. Uh we do know that there has been some changes in um in qualifications minimum qualifications. Sometimes that means that organizations have to spend additional time with training of their their workforce. Um so that maybe it's a little bit of a longer learning curve. There still is very hard to fill positions. Um public safety is one of those corrections especially dispatch very difficult. Your equipment operators, planners, engineers, we can keep going down that list. So we we um I cannot say overarchingly that all position classifications have settled out. um we do still have continue to have some challenges and overall more and more organizations are starting to get worried about their retention and we're going to look at your retention here on a grid here in um actually if we want to advance to the next slide. So, all of this information that I'm talking about or that I'm sharing with you here

this evening is going to be contained in this final report that Sarah was talking about. And I asked the county to not release that report yet until I had an opportunity to at least give you an introduction to some of this information because when you get that final report, it's going to be about 60 pages in length. And I want you to have some context to it because it can be a little bit overwhelming. That's why there's going to be multiple meetings where we're going to cover various topics along the way. The demographics that you see on the screen, this is in the final report so that you will be able to go back and look at uh more of the detail that we have. What we do is uh we spend time looking at the employees that are included in your study and we have mapped them out and so this is a graph of all of your employees by age and how long they've worked for the county. Now your overall tenure back in 2025 uh the average tenure was 6.7 years. The national average for public sector local government excluding school districts is 6.4 years which means you are aligning right at the national average. Unfortunately we do not have state numbers. We only have uh we only have federal numbers. But what's really interesting so that's a good job good job. Kudos kudos to the to the county for that. But then what we did was we took a little bit of a deeper dive into, you know, what is your actual employee demographic looking like? And when you look at the age of your employees, what you can, um, quickly see here is that your employees, uh, those individuals who are age 50 and over, they are the ones that have the largest years of service, anywhere from 10 years up to

14, 15 years of service. as those individuals start to retire out, you we're, you know, we do run that risk that that number is going to decrease. Okay? Now, when we look at how many folks are age eligible to retire, you've only got about 13% that are age 55 and over, but what that tells you now is that you know that you are going to have at least 13% of your workforce that's going to be gone over the course of the next uh decade simply by retirement. that excludes what is happening in terms of just voluntary separation with employment. And when we're talking about voluntaries, what we what we really like to focus on is the age category 40 and under. That is your much more mobile workplace. And if they have a skill set and the community next door is paying an extra 50 cents an hour, they are not necessarily committed to Racine County as an organization. they're going to go to the community next door and earn that extra 50 cents an hour. And that is really why you want to make sure that you have real aligned, competitively aligned salary ranges so that you can hold on to that human capital. Now you have 52% of your workforce is right is under the age of 40 which means you are at high risk for a lot of mobility out of the organization. So really when we think about what is it that that the county needs to focus on, I would say that it really is the retention of the staff that you've got. Uh you know certainly you do have vacancies and we want to make sure that you can get those back filled but as as your HR director had talked about they have been responsive on an individual casebyase basis with with positions and um you know so that has helped you along the way. Your bigger goal here I feel is

going to be the retention and what that is going to mean for you is getting this implemented, managing it and being able to have the mechanisms in place to be able to allow your employees to advance through those ranges going forward in the future. And if we can just move on to the next slide. The other area that I just want to give you a little bit of context before I get into the market findings is compensation philosophy. And again, this is more of a foundational item as we walk into some of the charts and the graphs that I'm going to show you. Compensation philosophy is really the the policy item or the policy perspective from the county of where in the world do you want to align within the market. uh most organizations uh well all organizations have three options. Uh the first option is that you can be a leader in the market and you don't necessarily have to be the top leader but you want to uh you know you want for people to be looking at your wages and and you know try to catch up with you you know so that is going to be like the wakaawas of of um you know of your region that really are setting they're setting the tone of the compensation. you can be average to the market knowing that yes, we want to be competitive, but we do have some financial considerations. And so average really ends up being the goal for most organizations within the state. And then you do have some organizations that cannot even be at the at the average. They are a training ground. They know that. They are set up for that. Um and it comes with its own unique set of challenges. So, you know, some of the questions that I have asked along the way is, you know, where does Racine County want to be? And I I believe um

that, you know, if you were to ask all of the department heads, they are going to say that they really do want to be higher than average because you do have some very complex systems, operations that that have to be carried out for your constituents. an average um sometimes can be somewhat of a struggle given who your competitors are in your market. But with that said, what we did establish um for the county at least to get started with this new system is average compensation, which means that we've aligned you to the 50th percentile. So when you see the when you see the roster of who the comparators were that we used to build your market, the goal really was for Racing County to be somewhere around the middle. Um and that is an important piece of information because you know you might have an employee that comes to you and says you know I can still earn more at the community next door and the response to that is yes that is possible that that is going to happen. The goal has not been for Racine to be the top pair. The goal is for Racine County to at least be a seat at the table. Um be, you know, be a consideration if you are looking to, you know, take employment with Racine or, you know, if you're if you're considering leaving Racine. So, we wanted to put you at least at the average. I think a long-term goal for the county could be something above the average, but there would have to be some financial planning that would have to be put into place in order to accomplish that. All right, let's move forward then. Let's talk about um the methodology and then we're going to talk about the the market findings. So, um we we did have a very interactive process. That process involved meeting with your county executive, with all of your department directors to gain an

understanding of the programs and the services that they offer uh the the to the organization. And then we talked about each of those positions. We did a paper review of your compensation systems, your job descriptions, your policies, and your benefits. And then we also then went out to the market to collect that market data. At the same time that we were doing that, we asked employees to complete what's called a position questionnaire. That document gives us more detailed information about what their responsibilities are just in case job descriptions might be a little bit out of date. Then that helps us make sure that your classifications are going to be um accurate here um once you get into the new system. We uh ran analysis on all of that and developed our recommendations. And then after that, we once again sat down and met with all of the department directors so that they had a a an introduction to the recommendations and they had an opportunity to offer feedback. Uh sometimes we agreed, sometimes we disagreed on what that feedback was, but it was really the an opportunity for them to to really do uh a deep dive asking, you know, some really um challenging questions at times about why did we do this instead of that. Um but uh you know that is our quality control process. We want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to ask uh those questions that they feel uh need to be asked. So, with that, let's talk about your market findings. Um, and let's just skip right ahead. I'm going to um this is and this is a really small list, so we're not going to spend a lot of time on it. This is in the report. This is the list of the comparable organizations that we use to collect your external market data. You can see that it is quite a comprehensive list. Um it is uh all within the state of Wisconsin. Although there was a little bit of of um data that we did collect or we attempted to collect out

of northern Illinois that was um specific to public health, but um at the end of at the end of the day um they didn't actually provide us any of that information. So we did not get 100% data collection. That is actually uh pretty common at this point, but we did get a a real good robust uh outcome. And so we we got good data to be able to benchmark as many positions as possible. So if we want to advance um and let's go right into the let's skip this one and I'll just describe it on the next slide. So when we go out to the market, we collect your we collect the minimum, the midpoint, and the maximum of each of the salary ranges of each of the positions that we attempt to benchmark, which we we attempt to benchmark 100% of the positions. um as possible. We also collect a fourth data point and that fourth data point is is understanding what your incumbents are actually earning wage-wise in comparisons to um the external market. And so there will will be extra graphs and charts in the report that I don't have here today. We when we do this analysis then um we run analysis on each of the minimum midpoint maximum for each of those positions and then we put it into what's called a comp ratio or a comparison ratio. It compares racing county against that entire listing uh of all of their salary data for each of the positions. And we want the number that number that results from it to at least be a 50% comp ratio. What that means is is if Racine County is paying $20 an hour and the market is paying $20 an hour, you are aligned and you are you are at the market and we have a plus minus about 5%. Um, so you

can go down to about a 45% and still be aligned to the market, but if you're anything lower than that, then uh then we would deem that to not be competitive to the market. So what I've done for simplicity purposes is I've colorcoded everything for you. And in the chart that you see here, what I've done is I have taken the count's published minimums of your salary ranges and we have now identified what that looks like against the rest of the market and their published minimums. And overall we find that 24% of your positions minimums are aligned to the market. 15% are at risk. They still would be considered market aligned. Um, but we we um they are, you know, really close to not being market aligned anymore, which is why we we color code them a little bit differently. But overall, 60% of your positions are too far below market in order to be to be uh aligned and and to be competitive. So that's almost twothirds of your positions. That's not the whole story. That's just the minimums. And so if we advance to the next slide very quickly, we're going to look at your midpoint. Um, I guess we're going to look right at your maximum. Oh, there we go. Your midpoint. Um, your midpoint now um shows that you've got about 27% of your positions that are aligned at your market um or at the midpoint. And then if we can advance to the maximum right away. The maximum is showing um that you've got about 22% of your positions that are aligned to the market. Now this is a really important number because um you know one of the things that we want to take a look at is again for you for retention. You know what is that earnings potential that they have with Racian County versus those other organizations that they might uh that

they might go work at. And for you, um, about one in five of your positions are are going to be in the mix, but the rest of your positions are going to fall short at the maximum, which means they will never have the per earnings potential that they have at other organizations. And so that is um, you know, that's a really important feature here for you. Uh, if we can ex uh, go on to the next slide. the one the one piece of uh that I want to I want to you know some of these charts they're going to look like wow we're really really you know this looks really um challenging for us. The good news is and we're not going to talk about it here this evening but we will be talking about it at the next meeting when we're when we're talking about the dollars that are associated with this. your human resources department has been uh tried to be responsive on a case-byase basis per position as um as the need has has percolated up as the metric has identified it. And so what we did was we took a look at where your existing personnel are in regards or in relation to the market minimum. So if we were to say, okay, we're just going to be using the market minimum. uh you know how far away are they from from from being within market? And what we found is that 63% of your positions are falling pretty close to the ranges and they are not necessarily going to have a lot of movement with within um within their their dollars. And so what that means then is that even though you're going to see quite a bit of movement in your ranges and fixing of your system, the the cost of this is not going to be um as great and that is um because you have tried to be responsive on a case-byase basis. All right, let's go ahead and move forward then and let's talk very quickly about the

current systems. And Sarah, uh, your HR director, she talked about this a little bit at the very beginning. And this is one of the complications that you have. You have a broken system right now. And that's because you have multiple salary schedules. Um, and that in itself is not necessarily the problem. But what you have though is that the structure within each of those schedules is all very very different. And so it's very difficult to try to have internal alignment between positions that they are sitting on different salary schedules but yet they might have some very similar characteristics. The the um when you look at the this chart and this chart will also be in the final report here you can see that there is a a column that says spread. The spread is the distance from your minimum to your maximum. So you can see here that I'm just going to use the public works schedule as an example that they they have a very very narrow range from 4 to 13% from minimum to maximum. They're going to top out very very quickly and they don't have any earnings capacity or earnings potential once they hit that um and that grows some frustration and then people look to leave. Whereas on the non-exempt schedule, you have positions that have upwards of a spread of 50% from minimum to maximum, which means they have a very wide range. So they have a they have more opportunity for some progression. What you have here is inconsistency and um and there is a feeling of inequity um that goes along with that because not all positions have the same opportunities. And so when we when we put all of these together, we could see you are highly compressed. Your salary ranges um don't necessarily make sense. And um you know, HR is doing the best

job that they can with the with the system that they have. And so really one of the goals for us very very quickly was we need to give you a new system and it really needs to be one model that the HR department will be able to manage. Let's go ahead and progress. All right. Um let's uh keep going here. I want to be able to give people a chance to ask questions. Okay. So the um the other area here um is is your um position analysis. And so we did take a a a greater look at the classifications, the job titles. And when we do this and you have a lot of different positions as um your HR director um indicated when we do this position analysis um we evaluate the positions in 13 different areas and those areas are listed here. So um you know the the big takeaway on this is is that this is a very um data driven process. The the market data is very data driven but so is that position analysis. we take out the person. We don't consider the person um in any of this process. I don't know who any of these individuals are. We are looking at the information that the employees provided us in that position questionnaire and that was uh that was reviewed by the managers before it was submitted to McGrath. Uh and then we run them through this position analysis process. Now, um during our quality control meetings that I had with the department directors, sometimes those items came up where they were saying, you know, look, this position does this, they do that, they do this. And I, you know, pulled up the position questionnaire and I said, well, all right, we, you know, um maybe, you know, some items weren't captured on that position questionnaire. The employee did not give us all of this information. So, let's revisit the position again. Um and

so this was uh very very important information in developing not only the the the compensation structure but then how we are going to put the positions onto the new salary schedule. So let's go ahead and advance the other area um just so you know as we build the model for you. Not only then are we looking at the market and then we're looking at the position questionnaires or the position analysis is compression. And that is because we do need to make sure that we have proper separation between within a department. You might have some levels making sure that those levels are objectively defined and um they they warrant separation. But we've also got rank structures here. You've got union uh where we have to be looking at union to non-union. And so we did take a a really close look at that level of separation that is needed. And so that is yet another tool that we use when we're developing these salary ranges. So with that, let's go ahead and let's talk about the um the let's go ahead and just skip right on over that. Let's talk about the recommendations. So what we've done for you um is in consideration of the market the position questionnaires the compression and then there's a fourth category that you're going to read about in the report which is that internal comparability and that is the quality control checks uh meetings that I had with the department directors. What we've done for you is we've created a single range system that has been broken down into four sections. So when you look at this, it's going to look like there's actually four different salary schedules, but they all are interrelated and they tie to one another. So HR is going to have to take care of the um the general schedule as a

core and then automatically um the advanced medical, the on call and the seasonal structures will automatically follow suit and they will be updated uh properly. The salary ranges have been built on the 50th percentile and within that now we have 23 unique payrades. Um the spread is between 20% and 40%. That feels like a widespread but the the 20% spread um is for your on call and your seasonal positions. um your general schedule has the wider range of that 40% spread that is um much more equitable. It's for all of the general employee positions that you have at the at the county. And we did make sure that all of the pay grades have between seven and 10% separation to make sure that our compression uh is is satisfied and that we are not causing any unnecessary compression between ranks between uh respective pay grades. With this model, we still have an expectation that employee is going to progress through the ranges based on on your on performance. And then we also know that there's going to be a fiscal ability to pay. Um that is does not necessarily go to way. We will have recommendations for you and if you advance to the next slide, I think we could talk about those here. Actually, let's skip over that. Let's keep going. Um, let's keep going and let's talk about managing the system. Um, we, you know, we know that you only have a finite number of dollars each year, but with that, we do have, um, some recommendations within the report that's going to talk about what you need to do to maintain this model. Uh, you know, a lot of resource has been put into getting the model here. Now,

what do you do to maintain it? so that this can be a model that you can use for the next 10-15 years. Um we want you to utilize a set economic indicator when you are uh when you are identifying those um adjustments that you need to have on an annual basis. What that is going to do then it's going to move all of the salary ranges so that you continue to be aligned to the 50th percentile um of your respective market. We also then need the employees to be carrying um carrying forward with that as well and that they should be receiving a COLA and then they also are receiving their merit or performance adjustments each year. Um it will absolutely be up to uh the county board financially uh to adopt uh those dollars in your budget process. If you do a market update, which is a like a mini market, it's a it's a mini market study. Um, and it does not usually take quite the amount of time that that our initial study here you did. But if you do one of these every three to five years, you are typically able to capture the nuances within specific industries that might change because the market is ever fluctuating. So um you know we we can say you know reasonably that I if um you know Sarah's team is able um to manage this model for the next four years or so we would be recommending yep let's just go out to the market on that fifth year. We do have some organizations that they're doing it every other year. They don't want to fall behind in any way. Um every other year I think is a little bit of aggressive. I I you know I do believe that every three to five years is um is is an acceptable amount of time. Um I know that we're running short on time and um I do also just want to talk

about uh that we we have other recommendations in the report and um in the next section of of my slide presentation we are talking about benefits because we did do a review of that and I am the first person to acknowledge that um that people aren't always here for for the dollars. They're not always here just for the wages. That the benefits have to count for something and they absolutely do. We look at this from a total rewards perspective. And so, you know, what what we are attempting to give you um fixes for is the wages. We're giving you some opportunities as it pertains to benefits, but you also have the well-being of your employees. How are you helping take care of them? Professional development. What opportunities do they have? and recognition. This is a very hard job. It's sometimes a very thankless job and employees want to feel like they have meaning in their positions. Uh and that makes really the the total employee experience even though our focus really is on wages and benefits. So, very quickly, and this is going to be in the last part of the report, um there's a there's an entire benefit section. I do have some information if we can advance the slide on your health insurance and a little bit more time with that because those are the big key areas. Uh your your health insurance, your retirement and uh the time off. Those are the top three. Now we all are you know you are all in the WRS. All of your competitors um are in the WRS as well. So there's not a lot to talk about that other than to say that we are starting to see some contributions to deferred comp employer match contributions just simply to give something a little bit more in the retirement um in the in retirement realm. Your health insurance when you read through this part of the report

please keep in mind this was from 2025. We do see some opportunities there. um you know, you're going to find that you're you are positioned pretty competitively by premium in for the employees. You start to fall a little bit in competitiveness when it comes to the family premiums, but you're going to be able to see where you stack up against all of those comparators that I I showed you in that that sheet. But the other thing that we then do is we take a look at your premiums with your deductibles and how does that rank? simply because that becomes an actual that's the employee cost as well as the employees and a maximum out-of-pocket experience. So this is a catastrophic event that they would have had in their life. Um you know we hope that none of your employees experienced that but you may be interested in seeing all right well what really truly is that out-of- pocket cost that the employees might suffer um if if something like that were to happen. There's some opportunities also there for you. I I don't think that you're in a dire situation with your health insurance at all. It's just one of those areas where you could take a look at is there an opportunity for some improvement or you know an opportunity to put a little bit more into the HSA and that is going to work um you know towards making your you um be positioned a little bit more competitively in the market than you are here today. You're also going to find in that area uh I do have some recommendations for time off um which is on the next slide. We did take a look at your vacation time um and uh your holidays are fine. There's some opportunities with your vacation time. This does fall into the difference between um exempt and non-exempt. And you might decide that you want to have one system of time off or at least of vacation time. Um so that

as positions might move between exempt and non-exempt because sometimes that changes um very very quickly with with um the government the federal government interpretations then then um it's not as uh significant of a deal on the benefit side. And I do think that you are ripe for a PTO opportunity, which is a general overview, a general bucket of time. We call it paid time off, where you don't have sick time or I'm sorry, your general leave. You don't have vacation time. You just have one balance of time off to be able to navigate. And um that actually works out really well for the new workforce coming in. The other and the last part of this whole process is that we've given you some opportunities and these would be more strategic long-term as you are looking at is there anything small that we can offer our employees to just help sweeten the pot. We we it's not going to bring them to Racine County perhaps it might help keep them there and you know help them understand that they are a very valuable employee. And so there is a list of opportunity um benefits that you could look to add down the road. Some of them are pretty big, some of them are relatively modest. Uh but it's certainly an interesting read because these really areas that other employers are looking at at this point because you know they are looking for what can we offer our employees uh that maybe the next door neighbor is not just to give us a little bit of a competitive edge. With that, I know that we are running out of time and I apologize. I love talking about compensation and I look forward to um the rest of the meetings, but I'd like to I'd like to be able to answer any questions um if there are any here this evening ahead of you receiving that final report.

Are there any questions?

Supervisor Horth.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. chairman. Um I would first say that I thought the presentation was extremely comprehensive. Um I think it gives us all a lot to look at to be honest. Uh my questions right now really are going to have to wait until I'm able to see all of the detail that went into this. But I would share with the county executive and the department heads that one thing I think we can see will probably happen is there's going to be an increase in costs as a result of this and when they get put into place. If that is in fact the case, I would since we're not going to have decisions on how this gets impacted for another 30 to 60 plus days, I would be recommending that all of the departments are looking now for where there's areas that they might be able to offset some of those increases because they're going to happen. And our budget was set for this year and we knew this was coming up. So, I would just encourage that that's something that we don't wait until end of March, April, whenever the final date is that it gets approved that we're going to then start to say, "Oh, now we got to do something about it because we lose another 60 days in that process." So, that's the only thing I would offer right now. Thank you. Very, very nice job, by the way. Excellent explanations.

Thank you, Supervisor Rossi. Thank you, Chairman. Um, this may be a silly question, but um, did I miss the the dollar value attached to this? We're not talking about that right now. I just wanted, you know, we're not was it more of We're not talking about that right now. That'll be on uh the fourth.

Okay. Um, second question, since we've got the opportunity, um, in the CO report, does it compare with the other adjacent counties or at least some of the ones that you, um, contrasted what you're proposing for our county, does it show the adjacent counties, um, retention rates, turnover rates as well? Uh, it does not. No. Thank you. You're welcome, Supervisor Wish.

He was first. Sorry. Uh okay. So in your comparisons, I'm gathering and I don't like to assume anything, but you're comparing everything on a government level and there was no private uh comparison to what the private market does.

Very good question. actually um when the the data set that we use to build your salary ranges um were public sector um and that will that will come that will come from the list. Um we also do go out and do at the time we did an open source. um that open source then will help us understand all right what is what is the nursing field um start starting at minimums what is um your other your private sector equipment operators you know things things on that line um that information unless you use a very specific um data survey tool um you you know we can't necessarily incorporate that into our data data analysis, we can understand what the private sector is paying, but we're not necessarily looking to be able um to attain that. The private sector, depending upon the type of position that we're talking about, often times is comparing to the public sector's 75th percentile. And a lot of times that's when we're talking about IT, we're talking about engineers, you know, um we're talking about, you know, transferable positions to to the private sector. And it's an it's a conversation. It it is, you know, not to say that you you know that we can't have that conversation, but normally when we when we go there, we're usually going there because we need to be talking about elevating those salary ranges. And I think that we need to be very cautious about that given the fiscal you know the the the fiscal impacts um for the county here over the course of you know implementation and beyond.

Okay. One last thing, um, is this a meritbased system, meaning a performance review, annual review, and then those individuals getting an increase and not just giving a blanket total 2 and a half or 3% blanket to everybody.

So the the meth the um the how the progression through the model really should be twofold. So when you adjust, let's just say that you adjust salary ranges by 2% and let's say that you are um that you are midway through your your salary range. Um when you put a 2% onto that range, the employee basically loses 2%. So that merit adjustment that they get then really becomes, well, I'm using my merit just to try to keep up with my COLA. So we want for you to do a cost of living plus then also the merit. Um so the the cost of living just helps the employee keep positioned what they have previously earned and then the merit ends up being above and beyond that. So it's really two different mechanisms for two different reasons. I've got lots of other questions, but I don't know that anyone other than the government or government entity gives COLA or cost of living increases. The private sector doesn't I've been in the private sector for 40 years. Uh I've never gotten a cost of living increase on top of a merit increase. Just my thoughts.

Thank you, Supervisor Co. Um, since the study started, a lot has changed um, with like the national quit rate and stuff. Is that something we can take into a factor that there aren't as many openings because the quit rate is down quite a bit from when this was taking place? Well, I think um you know what what we're viewing this as is not something that is being reactive to your market pressures. We have to understand that there's market pressures. But I wouldn't necessarily be um I wouldn't react to that necessarily because what we've done here is number one, we've created a new system for you to help fix the the system that is it is legitimately broken. And then number two is to align the positions to the market. The market's not going to go down. the market might stabilize and it might it may not advance as fast as it was with 7% 8% uh you know um economic increases. We you know we think that we have passed that um but that doesn't it doesn't stop the fact that you you need a new system and that we have market aligned you what that what the responsiveness that that you would be suggesting would be how do we manage it going forward now and uh you know do we you know what economic indicator do do we do we use because we still are going to have you still will have some industries that are challenged. Um, you know, administrative assistants maybe not challenged as much as your corrections officers will be very very highly challenged. Yeah.

Any further questions?

All right. Did you want to Okay. So it'll be this will be back on the agenda for the March 4th meeting with uh with the uh with the whole study. Correct. Supervisor chairman. Yeah.

Yeah. it it will incorporate uh the details our our provider of the um presentation this evening will be here in the chambers I think and it's going to be broadcast uh live if we are able to set it up with the um obstacles that may be present. So, um, yes, those that can attend on the 4th, please come to the FHR meeting on the 4th. It'll be down here in the chambers. Correct. Well, thank you for your presentation there. You're very welcome. We will see you in a few weeks. All righty. Good night.

Good night. Any motion to adjurnn? Anybody? We are adjourned.

Okay, I'm going to call the meeting to order for the county board. If the clerk could take the role.

Supervisors Kelly and Spencer are excused. Supervisor Miller Miller is attending virtually and everyone else is in the chambers. Then customarily we have one of our supervisors leading lead us in the opening prayer. Supervisor Mcrenolds, could you lead us tonight? Dear God, please provide us the wisdom and strength to make wise and good decisions for the people of Rine County. Please keep all our law enforcement safe and all other first responders safe and healthy. God, please give Supervisor Kelly the strength to stay strong as she fights her battle. Amen. And the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all

and justice for all. Item number four, public comments. Pursu pursuant to the section 2-71 of the Rine County Court of Or ordinances, each speaker shall be allotted to three minutes, maximum three minutes. Are there any public comments out there? Seeing none, item number five, capital project status update on the behavioral health building and the public safety building 911 infrastructure. Who do we have here? There we go.

Come on. Good evening. Good evening. Hello. It's good to see everyone again. I'm Gary Sugo. Met a few months ago, I guess. So, you're putting the slideshow up, Travis, or

with me today. Um, Mary Collins is with Galbane Building Company. She's a project executive. She's with us today. We also have our ace Mike Elzzinga here, knows a lot about them facilities. All right. So, I'll be providing an update on the behavioral health building. This first slide shows the exterior rendering. You saw that last time. Uh following we'll have some aerial photographs taken Friday, February 15th. And that'll illustrate the uh current exterior. So we can go to the second one. That's this aerial photo there. This is the south elevation with the main public entrance located right in the middle. Several trades actively working in the area. Sure. constructions completing the masonary work. Clint Dicker's installing the windows windows and Walkers Air and Vapor is installing the air and vapor barriers barrier system. But a lot different than the last time you seen it, huh? Took off a significant update. We'll go to the next slide. That's the north elevation or the back that's the back side of the building there. You can see the homes. That's the back of it. Uh masonary work is nearing completion on the east side. Windows have already been installed on the west side and in the central portion. Uh the remaining areas will be finished with metal clad uh panel cladding. We'll go to slide four. These photos show both the east and west elevations. The roofing membrane has been installed. It's complete on the west side. Is currently underway on the east roof. The lighter gray material vis the material you see that's visible is the vapor barrier which is installed beneath the roof membrane. The vapor barrier is approximately 95% complete in the central area there. So

that's you can sort of see that lighter gray on the top. Slide five. This is the west sud courtyard comparison. Do you see the rendering there on the left and where we are right now? Compares the current uh construction to the original rendering. Masonary is complete. Window frames along with most of the glass have been installed. The metal panel installation will be complete. Will complete the remaining unfinished areas there. It's taking on a nice look. Slide six. These interior photos show progress within the sud areas. Drywall installation has begun on the sophets and bathroom walls. Door frames are installed. You can see in the middle there that door frame. And the fireplace has been framed, installed, and vented. The city of Rine has completed inspections of inwall electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems. And ceiling framing is now underway. Next slide. These photos highlight the SUD support areas, including the staff station, staff support office, and the SUD laundry room. Wall roughing is complete in these spaces, and drywall installation is scheduled to begin. This is the main entry area. Wall roughing is currently underway. In the photo on the left, you can see the second floor landing. Stair installation will occur after the wall roughing and drywall are complete. The stairs will be on the right side going up. It is really a neat entrance when you walk in. See all the wood up on the ceiling up there. And it has really nice look to it when you go in there with that height. Slide nine. Back of house areas. These photos show

the back of house spaces including the boiler room and stairwells. Overhead piping installation continues. Stair installation and both stairwells have recently completed. So some of you, well, I don't know how many of them have been out there, but we were using scaffolding to get up there. Now we have stairs. Next slide. Second floor and public areas. Here we see the second floor conference room and the prefunction space as well as the public restrooms. Wall roughing activities are currently underway in all these areas. It's a very nice conference room large. The next slide, we'll be able to show progress comparisons to these renderings for both the sud and sail areas. Just wanted to show you those uh again as well. We'll go to the project schedule. We remain in that red area, the building construction phase. Winter con, you can imagine winter con uh conditions have been challenging. We had an early snowstorrms and then those extended periods of freezing temperature impacted the exterior of the work. But despite this, we are targeting completion of the roofing by the end of February and full enclosure by the end of April. So, uh that's where we stand right now. So sort of a quick uh timeline and we're going to go into the budget. We are finalizing procurement of owner provided items that includes IT audiovisisual systems, security equipment, tele the television service provider, furniture and special equipment such as laundry and staff break room items those have been finalized. So, if you look at this project, we um at at the bimonthly at or as noted in

the county board's most recent bimonthly large capital project status report, we are tracking at a projected 36.1 million. Today, the project continues to track at approximately 36.1 million inclusive of contingencies and a $500,000 allowance for potential related impacts. So we are confident that um you know Galbane has been closely working with this tariff exposure and please report that that projected impact is going to be well below the allocated 500,000. The project's only 45% complete. So while not all materials and equipment have been received, it's still too early to safely reallocate all those contingency savings. Uh but we will be under budget on this project. As previously noted, the county executive has directed the project team to aggressively pursue savings so that any unexpended funds can be redirected to other capital uh projects rather than additional scope on this project. So, we're staying with that course. We're cutting and everywhere where we can to keep this project under budget. will continue to follow that direction, maintain a high level of confidence um and that the project uh we are very confident the project will come in uh under budget. So that slide shows you that we're going to open it up for questions. Um and I have Mary and Mike here to help answer questions as well.

Are there any questions? Yes. Supervisor Rossi. Thank you, chairman. Um, I gotta say that was an excellent presentation that knocked out 90% of the questions I was going to have here. So, thank you very much, Gary, and any other members of the team that helped put that together. Um, this next question I have then is, um, what is the total committed cost? So, what was actually paid out so far? Paid to this point in time, Gwen, do we have that number? I just turn my computer off, but I can turn it back on.

It's It's all right. If I could if I could at least have that emailed out then about 15 million. Oh, all right. Good. Um and then the second question is just um total change orders. Just wondering where that project sits right now. Just trying to track budget, you know, staying on budget was done by you had all those well several hundred at least at the YDCC. But we're probably on confirmed 14 or what right now our friends. So there have not and how many has there been though total? Could you come Hey, could you come up to the microphone? Okay, I will I will I'm going to get the answer here. No, total number. Is it like 14? 14 or 15?

Yeah. So I said 14. So change orders are at about 14 or 15. And the the the value of those change orders is a credit. Perfect. And then if I may one more here. Go ahead. The nature of these uh change orders, was it material savings or are these like bulletin related changes?

Well, they're all issued as bulletins as their scope changes, but they were um material changes uh where we've found deficiencies in some of the materials or changed some of the fixtures or whatnot. We we did a lot of value engineering items in there that came into play. There was a at least uh I'd say eight to 10 items there that created that change which were all credits. Um and then some items along the way where we you know it's minor things the counters from courts to this and every one of them uh were going to be ended up being credits. Excellent. Thank you supervisor Horth.

Thank you Mr. Chairman, I'd like to echo Supervisor Rossy's comment. Very nice presentation. It's informative. Brings things right to the forefront for all of us to understand where we're at. I have two very simple ones. When I saw the budget up there, one line I didn't see was contingency. Is there contingency as a part of this project? Because it didn't appear up there. Yes, there is. Yes. Yes. What is How much was the contingency set up at? Could you please go back? I'm fine. The owner's reserve 750,000 is our contingency. I'm sorry. Say it again.

Ownerve is the 750,000 owner's reserve is the contingency and for purposes of showing our under budget. We fully committed it to the project here. So you can show we're not we're not giving it away. We're not spending it right now. We're pretending like it's not there. So we're not intending on using it unless we really have to. We've built in enough contingency on other lines that this is a standalone contingency line. If if we don't use it, we'll be 1 six 1.7 million.

I'm sorry. Is the contingency in the owner's expense there? the owner's reserve. The second line that $750,000 is our contingency on this project, but we also added contingency within the other line such as land acquisition and furniture and equipment and other costs. Individual line items have their own for the whole project. I technically you could call it owner's reserve/contingency. Yeah, that's okay. The way you're doing it, if that's what's been done, that's fine. But here's my last observation. Supervisor, could I just add one thing? Yes, please.

Cuz I think it's a helpful clarification to that to that question. In addition to the owner's reserve, that 750,000 and then those individual contingencies that are baked in the other line items, Gary emphasized this, one of the larger additional contingencies is that tariff related impact contingency. And that's within the highest item, the construction uh blue colored item. That's $500,000. Of that $500,000, we're tracking very low. I I think you know between you we expect it to be under 100,000.

Yeah. It just we don't want to commit that or reallocate that until we have 100% certainty. Um and then as you'll recall anything north of $500,000 we can virtually, you know, guarantee it's not going to go over $500,000, but that's under our contract with the construction manager, Gil Bane. They bear that risk for anything north of $500,000. Okay. Thank you. My last observation and and it's a it's a question but when you talked about the conference room is the conference room set up with built-in audiovisisual features explain. Yes sir. explain to you toured and

uh so we actually brought the audiovisisual subcontractor through the conference room upstairs and down here to make sure that it is understood how the conference room audiovisisual works and how people expect it to work and we're currently going through some coordination on that to to make sure that that's how the audiovisisual system will work in this conference room as well. I asked the question because I heard in a previous presentation that it's intended that this space can potentially be used for rentals outside of the environment. Um, companies that might want to rent the space, it's in their backyard. Um, and obviously having a solid AV environment will be very valuable to that. So, thank you for answering clarifying that.

Any further questions? Okay.

All right. Thank you. I have a update on the public safety building. There we go. There he is. Evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Um, my presentation will be quite as exciting from a photographic standpoint. Maybe a little bit repetitive in the beginning, but please bear with me. So, we're going to talk about the uh radio communication center and the public safety center. uh the progress of each of those projects. Um next slide please. So first uh again the radio the radio project the total budget for the radio project is $23 million. Um and we are implementing it of course uh as stated in the last couple presentations uh because of the outdated and antiquated system that we currently are utilizing for public safety. Go ahead. So the project timeline uh as you may are all aware research began in 22 uh the at the uh request of the county executive for replacement of this uh aging system. Uh it went to vendor selection. We are uh currently utili we selected and are utilizing federal engineering uh for um technical expertise actually. uh we lean on them quite regularly uh just because this is a very highly technical um project. Motorola was awarded the project in May of 24 um and then the funding was obviously approved by this board and then uh it was launched um in the fall of 2024. Next slide please. So the the overview of the system, we've we've discussed this in the last couple uh presentations, but uh Motorola was selected uh as a vendor um using the Wisconsin public safety net uh network uh described as whips. It's uh governmental compliant is what the P25 indicates there. It complies with uh all

government uh requirements for uh LAN mobile radios. It's a digital trunk system which allows us for uh substantial expansion of the system. um multiple channels um to be utilized by the different vendors. Uh much different and much uh more advanced than our current system. Uh it's a countywide scope uh system provides radio communications for law enforcement, fire, EMS, uh public health, um DPW, all of the entities across the entire county. Um and that obviously will speak to the reliable coordination and emergencies uh being on one uh one system uh that can handle that type of uh communication load. Next slide please. So the core areas of the system are obviously the infrastructure um the the towers all the radio equipment that goes with them the sites um the mobile and portable radios that are required obviously to go on and work effectively with this new system. the staffing uh required to maintain the system and the maintenance and updates that actually go into the system itself. Go ahead. So from a budgetary perspective and I'll I'll try to nip this in the bud uh right from jump any questions you might have. So there's the construction piece and that's that's the piece uh the radio equipment itself. um that portion approximately 30% of the budget at this point in the project. That's where the bulk of the payments have come in as milestone payments to Motorola as they reach certain milestones and objectives within the project. Those payments are made by the county to Motorola. Uh that is the vast majority of what has been paid to this point. The owner's reserve on the project is 740,000. There have been approximately nine change orders on this project and they have all been at a no cost change order.

They have been credits to the project itself. Um and uh there has been uh minimal costs at this point uh for land acquisition and some regulatory uh uh things of that nature. Um but that is where the bulk of the money has been spent is just in that construction itself. Um and uh there has been actually uh due to some radio orders and some other things a substantial credit back to the to the uh project which has been very helpful. Next slide please. So significant milestones uh radio tower site construction modifications um continuation of the training imple and implementation teams and stakeholder meetings. We just had stakeholder and imple implementation meeting yesterday. uh we're having those quarterly as we move along in this project. That becomes uh extremely important uh to discuss uh how we're going to operate on the system collectively uh with all the municipalities and all the different entities that are coming to the table. Although the county owns and maintains the system, we want to be good partners. So, uh, the training and implementation and quarterly stakeholder meetings are held, uh, in that vein to make sure that we're all on the same page and everybody is in agreement from public safety and fire to DPW, public health, all those entities are, uh, satisfied with the system and how it's operating. We all agree how it should be operated. Um, we've done the microwave design of the actual system. Um, that has been completed and approved. Um, and I'll be going out next week uh to Nokia, our vendor, uh, to with federal engineering to look at the microwave equipment, uh, ensure it's exactly what we, uh, have ordered, it meets specs, um, and it's ready to go. So, once they bring it here, um, we're ready to get up and running with it on the system. And then the hiring process for uh, the uh, radio system administrator, um, we did uh, recently conduct interviews there. Uh my

understanding there has been an offer made um and it does look like we should have a a radio administrator on board here within the next few weeks. Next slide please. So this is just a very uh basic diagram of the cell or the I'm sorry not cell the radio sites um and the microwave loop. Um this system whips um it's a core system. We've talked about that. Um it's it's going into two spur locations within this within this microwave loop. Ives Grove and the courthouse. That's essentially where the where the the lifeblood of the system comes into our system. And then these are the microwave links throughout the county. Uh this is the loop that it'll be operating on. Go ahead. So our next steps for the radio system implementation, we are continuing construction and uh of the uh sites themselves. the civil construction. Um we're working through right now the backup dispatch center which is located going to be located down at the uh law enforcement center. Um uh that's currently being worked on by uh buildings and facilities Mike and his staff. Um and I'd say we're about 75% of the way there. Um once we get everything in place from a really a uh functional perspective from furniture and things of that nature for the county uh the next step will be to bring Motor Motorola in with the physical radio equipment and work on the installation of that um so that we're prepared uh when we make that move. Continue uh project coordination uh coordination between radio and public safety center projects. uh that is uh and as I'll discuss in the next uh update um that's becoming more and more crit critical especially as it relates to our Ives Grove Tower and we're going to be doing utility work here in the near future for our public safety building. So there's a lot of um IT coordination and things of that nature that are taking place behind the scenes

to make sure there's very limited if any disruption to our 911 communications. Um technical and functional testing uh development uh of system utilization. We're continuing the uh quarterly stakeholder meetings and the uh implementation meetings and the technical and function functional testing of the microwave system. Some of that will be coming in the next quarter, two quarters of this year. Um we hope to see in the in the second third quarter of this year we we get the system up and we can do that functional testing and that's where um it's been a lift to this point but I think that's where it's probably the heavy lift is going to come in from a training perspective and just making sure everybody understands how to operate the system and how how to maintain the system. Um but that should be happening in the next you'll probably be hearing more about that in the next one to two updates on the radio system itself. Go ahead. So, with that, I'll uh take any questions you might have.

Any questions on the 911 system? Supervisor Rossi. Yeah. Thank you, Chairman. Can we go back to the financial slide? You had Okay. Just wanted to clarify. You've got commitments cost estimates to date. Does that reflect total contracted amount? Say that again. The second column is that total contracted amount, the owner's reserve. No, no, no. The second column, not not the second row.

No, I added in what we've paid to date and then what we anticipate um spending. So, to date, we have paid 4.3 million. However, we're sitting on a $13 million invoice that will be due uh next week for the radios. But I wanted to show that we're we're not projecting to overspend. We're not projecting to honor spend. Um, and then I I did want to clarify at a FHR meeting, supervisor Capellian asked a question about did we budget for moving costs and we did. It's included in the other owner costs. So the the costs related to the V uh to Norway for utilizing the mechanic based space there and any other movement out for temporary housing for staff for dispatch and for others is included in in the budget lines here was allocated here. That's for the public safety building.

All right. Excellent. Thank you. And then to your question earlier, we spent 14.9 million on the behavioral health bill. Supervisor, again, I would just like to say thank you to all the department heads that are putting together presentations like this right now. Um, they become very informative and allows us to maybe ask some really properly informed questions, too. So, thank you and to thank everybody else that participated in putting these together.

See, Mr. Adams on the with the sheriff sheriff's uh substation. Yeah. Okay, we can move the slide, please.

One more. There you go. So the public safety center um for scene county public safety building uh the total budget for that project as it stands today and can has been uh throughout uh this project is $40 million. Go ahead. So uh the last time I gave a presentation um I believe supervisor Troder said we really haven't seen anything yet. So we got on the architect and said you know we're getting close here so let's put something together that's and this is it. So the the on to my right and depending on how you're looking at it is uh the old patrol station that'll be completely renovated and then where you see the ring county sign that'll be kind of the connection between the old building and into everything to the west there is the ent will be the entire new facility with uh special operations and fleet buildings and then that pole barn behind the existing is what is what sits there today. So that's a a basic rendering of what we expect it to look like. Go ahead. Just another view. So the timeline um the board approved the $40 million in 2024. We've been working through the planning and design process uh aggressively uh with Gilbane and Ramlo Stein um putting together the the design site preparation construction at Ice Groves are scheduled to begin um late spring early summer of 2026 and then the anticipated public safety center uh turnover to the county is the end of 2027. Go ahead. So, as we discussed in the last uh updates, it's a it's an aging facility. Um it no it hasn't fit the sheriff's office needs for for several several decades. Um um as well as 91 dispatch and emergency service.

It'll be an integrated public safety campus. Um and that'll bring it centralized hub for the sheriff's office, 911 operations, emergency management. Um it'll bring bring together the Rine County Emergency Operations Center. So it'll bring everything uh somewhat similar to the radio project. It brings everything uh kind of collectively together to operate as one for greater efficiency and growth. Go ahead. So the core center areas that I just discussed, the sheriff's office, um 911 dispatch will be housed there, Rine County Emergency Management, and then um the Rine County Emergency Operations Center that'll be utilized in the event of uh mass events within the county. Go. Go ahead. [clears throat] So, this particular on this budget, so you'll see the estimate to date uh that we've been working with um uh Gilbane and Ramlo Stein and our budget. So, as we go down the line items here, uh you can see the underover on the estimates. the top construction uh overage uh potential was due to what we discussed before similar to the behavioral health and anticipation of tariffs and increasing costs. So that's all been factored in as we go down uh in column two. You get to the bottom and at this point uh our cost estimates and everything that we've been given to date is it is within uh our $40 million budget uh with 68 coming in under $68,000. Go ahead. So we've worked through the completion of the 50% design development estimate. We have obtained um zoning permits from the village of Yorkville to proceed um the completion of the construction design sent uh sent to Gobain for development of bid packages and that's essentially where where we're sitting at right now. Things are they're bid packages are been put together. They're

getting ready to send out bid packages with the exception of some a few early bid packages that we discussed before. It was uh those were sent out as uh related to the prefab buildings and some electrical things that it was anticipated could possibly if we waited uh just those particular products uh could take some additional time for a number of reasons supply chain and others. So we wanted to get in front of that. So those those items didn't delay the project overall. Uh but the the bulk of uh the bid items are are going to be going out very shortly. Um and then again as I spoke to the early bid package released the pre-cast the electrical pre-engineered uh medical or uh metal buildings. Um and then uh simultaneously the sheriff's office more than anything has been working through that singlephase construction. So we need to be out of the building um to do this. Um we realized early on uh that that was a safe uh cost savings doing it a one-phase project. Uh so the sheriff's office is currently uh moving out and uh moving into other locations within the county to continue operations so that we can realize those savings by making a one a one-phase project. Go ahead. So um this is about as exciting as my photographic evidence will be. Um this is the patrol station. This is just really uh I'm just utilizing this to to show you that we are moving out. That is our current uh garage facility. That is our current evidence room and that was uh the SWAT equipment room. Um and daily if you go over there daily it's it's progressing. So they're they're going to be out of there completely very shortly. Go ahead. So the next steps um again implementation of the one-phase construction plan and alternate work sites. That's in process. That's been being worked through for the last month.

well for several months but really been into play the last month or two. Um the bid package uh release and finalization um that final completion of the design development and then Gilbane submission of the uh gross max price to the county. Um pre-construction activities um some of that has actually taken place to some degree. We had to get in front of some things as it related to IT and fiber because of the intermix between the 911 center again and the radio system. Um we had to get in front of that several months ago. So that's actually started to take place. Um but some of the groundwork and utility things of that nature that'll start taking place here in the near future. Um we have um a company coming in next week to walk through our existing building to uh do an abatement uh review to see you know what levels we have in there of what and what's going to be required. And once we get that information they'll they will come back and and eradicate whatever needs to be taken out of that building because of its age. Um we continue regularly to coordinate between uh the Motorola team, the Gil Bane team and the Ramlo Stein team. Um can't emphasize enough how important that's becoming. I mean it's important obviously but it's really critical. Um and then we have additional reviews with the state DOC DOC's been intimately involved with this. It's a small portion of the new public safety building but they have been involved uh from the very front of this. So they're well aware. Um and then the internal uh development review with Gil Bane and uh Ramllo Stein to ensure everybody's on the same page. So th those uh have taken place and some are in process. Go ahead. So that pretty much sums it up. We're coming to a point that uh as stated earlier uh late spring, early summer we anticipate uh barring any issues having shovels in the ground and then perhaps

my presentations will get a little bit more exciting with more photographs. Any questions? Supervisor Shakur.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, thank you for a fine presentation. Just get right to the chase. Uh, of course, this public safety center, the building infrastructure, 911, a patrol station. What type of shelf life is it? I mean, is this 30 years, 50 years that this all this infrastructure, this capital expenditure we're doing, how long is that going to last? So everything that we're doing um is being built for growth but not to an extreme right because there are budgetary concerns. Um so from a growth perspective 20 30 years out for sure. Um from a building perspective the same thing. I mean this is a this is going to be for quite a long time. Um some of it some of the building construction itself we are constraining. We can't go we can't uh you know the sky's is the limit. Unfortunately, we can't do that because obviously that brings more life to the building depending on how what kind of uh materials you're bringing to the project. But everything we have done has been designed for efficiency, growth, and get the maximum life out of the building we possibly can. So, you're going to see several decades out of this building.

Thank you. Super. Just a quick request. Could we make sure that these uh PowerPoint presentations are forwarded to us to have a copy of as well? I mean, honestly, I'd like to share this with my backyard in Waterford at our meetings. I mean, show people exactly what we're doing and what we're accomplishing. So, very much appreciated. And if we could, thank you. So, if you could get those over to Wendy for distribution. Thank you. Any further questions, comments? Well, thank you.

Thank you. Item number six, reading of the minutes of the previous meeting which is automatically waved unless requested by the majority of the members present. Seeing none, item number seven, resolutions and ordinance is referred to committee. Resolution number 2025-85 by individual supervisors requesting that the entire causeway leading to Rine County's Harbor Park adopt the name of Kippy Causeway was referred to the public works parks and facilities committee.

Item number eight, introductions of resolutions and ordinances for first reading and referral. Resolution number 2025-90 by Finance and Human Resources Committee establishing the total annual compensation of the clerk of courts and county sheriff for the years 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030. And resolution number 2025-91 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing a three-year agreement from 2026 through 2029 with Spectrum for Internet Services for the Rine Public Health Division for a total of $18,000. Item number nine, communications and claims. Item number one, official proclamation regarding Fair Housing Week from County Executive Ralph Maliki.

Item number one is received and filed in the county clerk's office. Number two, letter from F3 Marina regarding concerns of proposed renaming of Christopher Columbus Causeway from Reef Point Marina.

Item number two is referred to the public works parks and facilities committee. Number three, letter regarding pending application for proposed culvert located on an unnamed waterway WBIC7800 in the southwest quarter southeast quarter section 17 township for north range 23 east in the village of Calonia rine county number four resolution requesting the Wisconsin counties association to lobby the state legislature and governor on legislation for greater local control for Wisconsin counties from Wood County. Number five, resolution regarding an amended relocation order in the village of Calonia affecting property along the Turtle Creek between Middle Road and the KMA ditch as part of the Turtle Creek restoration project in section 17 range 23 in the village of Calonia Rine County, Wisconsin from the village of Calonia. Number six, notice that the agricultural impact statement program has published the AIS- 4625 for the transmission line project in the city of Oak Creek in Milwaukee County and in the city of Rine and villages of Mount Pleasant in Calonia and Rine County, Wisconsin by the American Transmission Company from the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. And number seven, resolution requesting Wisconsin Counties Association lobby state legislature and governor on legislation for greater local control for Wisconsin counties from Green Lake County. Items number three through seven are referred to the economic development and land use planning committee.

Number eight, resolution urging legislative action to address county funding challenges under Wisconsin's tax levy freeze from Phis County. And number nine, resolution supporting Wisconsin establishing a membership of the multi-state information sharing and analysis center known as MS Isac from Sawyer County. Items number eight and nine are referred to the finance and human resources committee. Number 10 is a claim against the county. Numbers 11 and 12 are foreclosures of mortgages. And numbers 13 through 29 are notifications from the United States Bankruptcy Court.

So items number 10 through 29 refer to Finance and Human Resources Committee and Corporation Council. Any requests for copies? Supervisor Coleman. Thank you, Chairman. Uh 4 67 10. Supervisor Cole. Uh copies of 2, three, five, and six. Supervisor Verance. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Copies of number three, four, five, six, and seven. Supervisor Horth. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Request copies 2 through 7. Supervisor McReynolds.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Copy of number 10, please. Supervisor Rossi. Thank you. 2 through 4 and then 7 through nine. Vice Chairman. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Eight and 10, please. And I would like three 9 and 10. And Supervisor Troutier. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, number two, please. Supervisor Shakore. Supervisor Hoffman. Thank you. Uh 3, four, five, and six.

Any further requests? Seeing none, n done, we'll move on. Communicate communications from the county executive. There are none. Standing committee reports containing recommendations on items referred. There are no reports. Second reading of resolutions and ordinances.

Under majority vote, we have resolution number 2025-82 by Finance and Human Resources Committee denying the claim of Robert Robinson. Resolution number 2025-83 by Finance and Human Resources Committee denying the property damage claim of Michael Zorner. Resolution number 2025-84 by Finance and Human Resources Committee denying the property damage claim of Deonte Conan. Resolution number 2025-86 by Public Works Parks and Facilities Committee authorizing the participation in the Department of Natural Resources Municipal Dam Grant Program. Resolution number 2025-87 by Public Works Parks and Facilities Committee directing the repair of an atgrade crossing with County Highway K and CPKC Railroad. Resolution number 2025-88 by public works parks and facilities committee directing the repair of an atgrade crossing with county highway C and CPKC railroad and resolution number 2025-89 by public works parks and facilities committee directing the repair of an atgrade crossing crossing with county highway C and the Union Pacific Railroad to Mr. Chairman

motion's been made and seconded supervisor troutier thank you Mr. Chairman, um, in regards to resolutions 2025, 82, 83, and 84, uh, please refer to Corp Council to obtain any additional information. Supervisor Hopkins.

So, in regards to res 22586 by public works in the facilities committee, this is for the uh, repair and reconstruction of the Rochester Dam. um with a 50/50 match between state and county uh upwards of $2 million. Um and then we have 80 22 22587 22588 and 22589D. These all regards to directing the respective um uh railroad authorities to engage in these various repairs. Uh all all resolutions listed now as approved by the county by the committee committee.

Any questions? I do have one for the director on on on the dam. I was just wondering what what kind of dam work are we going to be doing out on Rochester?

Well [clears throat] well basically it's the whole center part of the dam is what needs to be replaced. is starting to fail. We we picked that up in one of our in our inspection that we had this fall. And so we originally knew there was going to be works to be done with this. We weren't sure the extent of it because the inspection inspection wasn't complete at the time. So during this budget, we allocated $750,000 for that repair work. It looks like it's going to be upwards towards that. So we decided we're going to apply for this grant. We just found out about this grant which is upwards up to a million dollars uh is what that grant is for, but it's a 50-50 split. So to get that million, you'd have to spend $2 million for it. Uh to get $500,000, you'd have to spend a million dollar for it. So that's what this grant encompasses. Then the cost estimate is about $750 at this time.

Correct. Okay. Any further questions? Supervisor Troutier. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to make a comment. Thank you so much for taking care of the two railroad crossings I consistently drive over and you and I have talked about for maybe the last 12 months. Thank you for the pressure you put on the railroads people to repair those railroad those tracks, those crossings. Thank you.

Any further questions, comments? So we have a motion and a second to approve. This will be a voice majority vote. All in favor say I. Opposed. Motion's carried. Next, under twoth3s majority vote, we have resolution number 2025-81 by Finance and Human Resources Committee authorizing the acceptance of a Wisconsin Department of Health Services grant in the amount of $142,744 and transfer funds within the human resources department 2026 budget. Mr. Chairman, second. Motion's been made and seconded. Supervisor Troutier.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regards to resolution 202581, it pertains to a grant from DHS for room and board costs for Medicaid members with an opioid use disorder or at risk for opioid overdose. The dollar amount for 220 2025 was 24,483. In 2026, this increased significantly to 142,744. Our county has been receiving this grant since 2022. Hats off. Great job, Racing County. And I have Hope and Yelina here to answer any questions in regards to this $142,744 grant. Are there any questions? I do have one just just uh this uh so these funds currently are being used at facilities that have this capability. Is that correct?

Correct. When our building gets done, does that mean these funds could be used to offset our costs? Absolutely. Excellent. So, we're saving some money. Good job. Stop. Chairman, thank you. Oh, we had a motion. We had a motion. We have a first and a second. We have a first and second. It was second. It was um Supervisor Shakur and Troier. Yeah. Any further questions?

This is a twothirds majority vote. So, if we could get the My glasses on. Everybody sign in. stuck. [music]

Um, we got to try again. Reset that please. Please reset that. It was like all of a sudden

Okay, let's sign in. There we go. Here we go. All right. Okay. Supervisor wish there. All right, we can look forward. Supervisor Miller. Hi.

Thank you. All have voted and motion carries unanimously. Item number 13, reconsideration of resolutions and ordinances from previous meetings and or actions on vetos. There are no items. Item number 14, reconsideration and of and of notice of intent to reconsider resolutions and ordinances. There is no notice. Informationational reports. Report number 2025-63 by Finance and Human Resources Committee submitting annual emergency procurement report for the year 2025 by the Rine County Purchasing Manager.

Item number 16, miscellaneous business announcement and oral reports. Supervisor Coleman. Well, I just wanted to say I just had the weekend of celebrating my daughter's 21st golden birthday. So, happy birthday, baby. And also I have some paperwork that I want all of my supervisors to uh look at with an email to follow after I have the appropriate conversations. But if you guys could just grab this paperwork that I have, I'd appreciate it. Thank you, Supervisor Caprellian.

Thank you. Uh thank you government services committee. We successfully went through the the youth and governance applications and interview process. Thanks for your dedication with that and it will be exciting for all of us to partake in the um the end of the last cohort's um project service project and their graduation from the program that'll be coming up in April. Do you remember the date chairman Kramer? The graduation would be the first uh the second Tuesday. Okay. And then yeah,

that's where they kind of change the the change of handoff from one year to the next. So yeah, it'll be great. And so um one thing else I will announce, government services, put on your calendars, we are not meeting the first Thursday of in March, but it will be March 10th as a um committee meeting with finance. So that is Tuesday before the county board and it'll be in this room. So Martin at 5:00. Yes. Any further information, sir. We are journed. Thank you.