DATE: January 11, 2005
Committee Members Present: Wiese, Gaalswyk, Sprecher and Ashford.
Mr. Jerry Lehman was not in attendance.
Others Present: Lance Gurney, Mary White, Ted Brenson, Brent Bailey, Dave Tremble, Pat Dedrich, Gene Wiegand, Steve Pate, Kelly Felton, Sally Cobb, Lowell Haugen, Madeleine Kern and others.
Chairman Wiese called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and staff certified the meeting had been properly posted.
Mr. Gurney requested to amend the agenda by deleting item 9b.
Motion by Gaalswyck, seconded by Ashford to adopt the agenda with this amendment. Motion carried.
Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to approve the minutes of the December 28, 2004, Committee meeting as submitted. Motion carried.
Communications: Mr. Gurney, Planning and Zoning Director, noted that department heads have received a survey from the Personnel and E & L Committees requesting evaluation of the Administrative Coordinator’s position.
Business items: The Committee signed a resolution denying the rezoning request of Dennis and Mark Bender that was heard at the last public hearing.
Mr. Ted Brenson, County Cartographer, then appeared. He requested approval for 3 people from the Mapping Department and 1 staff member of the Planning and Zoning Department to attend the WLIA conference in Green Bay on February 22-24th. Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to approve attendance of 4 staff people. Motion carried.
Mr. Brent Bailey, Register of Deeds, appeared next. Mr. Bailey presented a resolution to the Committee authorizing the purchase of software from Tri Min Systems to provide Internet access to real estate documents recorded in the Register of Deeds office. This system was discussed at the previous meeting. The MIS Committee would be meeting this evening to review the resolution. Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to approve the resolution. Motion carried.
The Register of Deeds’ voucher list was then reviewed. Motion by Gaalswyck, seconded by Ashford to approve payment of the vouchers in the amount of $5,109.46. Motion carried.
Mr. Pat Dederich, County Surveyor, then introduced himself. He stated that he had only been in office for about a week. He stated that problems with inaccurate remonumentation corners needed to be addressed. He stated that any comments from the Committee would be appreciated. Mr. Weise felt the Mapping and Planning and Zoning Departments would most likely have comments. Mr. Dederich stated that monuments set during a particular time period needed to be checked. Mr. Gurney stated that for the last four years one of the added tasks the county surveyor did was to provide a technical review of certified survey maps that were submitted to the Planning and Zoning Office for approval. Mr. Gurney asked if Mr. Dederich was planning to continue with this review. Mr. Dederich stated that he was not familiar with this process but would discuss it with him. Mr. Gurney stated that the quality of survey maps submitted has improved because of this review.
Mr. Brenson wanted to comment on the corners involved. These were set between 1970 and 1976 and were located on roads.
Ms. Madeleine Kern then appeared. Ms. Kern was requesting to be allowed to create 4 lots within a five year period. Ms. Ashford asked what the purpose of creating four lots was. Ms. Kern stated that she had created one lot in 2000 and would like to create three more lots by CSM in 2005. This would be 6 months before the five year period was officially up and it was just cost effective to create the three lots at this time. Motion by Gaalswyck, seconded by Weise to wave the three lot restriction on this property and allow the creation of the fourth lot within a five year period. Motion carried. This property lies within the City of Reedsburg ET area and would remain consistent with the City’s regulations.
Mr. Dave Tremble, Land Preservation Specialist, then presented a resolution for the purchase of development rights from John Waldinger in the Town of Honey Creek. The Baraboo Range Protection Committee met earlier and approved the purchase. Mr. Tremble reviewed the details of the purchase. Motion by Gaalswyck, seconded by Ashford to approve the purchase of development rights from John Waldinger in the amount of $242,550.00. Mr. Gaalswyck asked if the Committee would take public comments at this time. Ms. Ashford responded that everything had already been said and there were no new reasons for comments. Mr. Weise asked if there were any buildings on the property. Mr. Tremble responded that there were not. Motion carried 4-0.
Mr. Gene Wiegand, Administrative Coordinator, then appeared to discuss options for restructuring the Mapping Department after Mr. Brenson leaves. He stated that most of the mapping was done but there would be ongoing maintenance. He proposed to not fill the cartographer’s position and move the other two employees to a sub-unit of the MIS Department. Oversight would stay with the Planning, Zoning and Land Records Committee. Ms. Ashford stated she felt the department still needed leadership. She stated that Brenson had applied for many grants and wondered if the remaining staff would have the authority to do the same. Mr. Wiegand stated the job descriptions for the two remaining employees would be redone. Ms. Felton would be appointed Land Information Officer and as such she could apply for any land use grants. The integrity of the data and quality of staff needed to be protected. Mr. Dederich asked if by rewriting the job descriptions if the positions would need to be posted. Mr. Wiegand responded that he didn’t think so. Mr. Pate, MIS, stated that he felt this would work out well and thought the Planning and Zoning Committee should remain the oversite committee. Ms. Ashford asked how the department could function with one less person. Mr. Brenson stated that the large part of mapping was completed, maintenance was an on going thing and the software was getting easier to work with. He suggested leaving the position in place in case it was needed later. Mr. Wiegand did not want to leave a vacant position on the books. He recommended the department go from 3 to 2 positions and see how it works out.
Ms. Sally Cobb stated that putting this department into MIS would streamline the
process. Mr. Gurney commented he was concerned about the County losing sight of where they were going with this information and preserving the land records funding. He stated that the County is about to enter into a half million dollar project. Mr. Brenson stated that the contracts would already be in place. Discussion followed regarding floodplain information the county would be receiving, how it would be used and what FEMA would do with the information. Mr. Gurney stated that there will be a lot of interpretation needed and the product had to be reviewed to be sure it was something that was usable. He estimated that the department workload wouldn’t peak until 2006 but he agreed that making the Mapping Department a sub-unit of MIS was a good idea.
Mr. Wiegand stated he intended to suggest reducing the Mapping Department from 3 to 2 positions and amend the job descriptions. This would go to the E & L Committee and possibly Personnel and Finance Committees.
Mr. Gaalswyck requested the status of the Spring Green Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Gurney stated that they will be holding a public hearing on February 3, 2005. Staff would have comments on the plan ready by then to be sure that it doesn’t conflict with the County Plan. The draft plan is available on the County web site.
Mr. Gurney briefly reviewed the Planning and Zoning Departments revenue.
The next item discussed was the purchase of a department vehicle. Don Larson Chevrolet matched the state bid and offered to take the Escort as a trade in. This bid was on a Chevrolet Colorado. Motion by Wiese, seconded by Sprecher to accept the bid from Don Larson Chevrolet on a Chevrolet Colorado in the amount of $15,223.00. Motion carried.
Motion by Ashford, seconded by Gaalswyck to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Ashford, Secretary
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Ashford, Secretary