LA CROSSE COUNTY BOARD PROCEEDINGS

COUNTY BOARD PLANNING MEETING

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2007

The La Crosse County Board of Supervisors Planning Meeting was held on November 5, 2007 in the Administrative Center, Room B410.  Chair Doyle called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.  The County Clerk, Marion I. Naegle, took attendance.  All supervisors were present except as noted:

County Board Chair Steve Doyle

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m.

Chair Doyle requested that the supervisors turn in their lunch choices for the November 13, 2007 meeting.

County Administrator Steve O’Malley

·         PROCLAMATION – VETERANS MONTH

WHEREAS, the Veterans Service Office assists and supports La Crosse County veterans and their family members in recognition of the sacrifices and service of veterans to La Crosse County, the state of Wisconsin, and the United States; and, WHEREAS, respect for veterans’ achievements and sacrifices on behalf of the nation and the world is ensured; and, WHEREAS, leadership and advocacy for La Crosse County veterans is demonstrated; and, WHEREAS, commitment to service excellence while assisting veterans is demonstrated; and, NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the La Crosse County Board does hereby proclaim the month of November 2007 as La Crosse County Veterans Month and urges all residents to join in recognizing the valuable contribution military veterans have made to La Crosse County.

Motion by Rauk/Wood to approve passed on a unanimous voice vote with 5 excused – Ehrsam, Maney, Keil, Schroeder and Bilskemper and 4 absent – J. Johnson, Freedland, T. Johnson and Schippers.

Chair Doyle gave the floor to Administrator O’Malley to proceed with his progress report on County Board Goals and his priorities for the next level.

Administrator O’Malley noted that the best budgets are the ones that deal with multiple years and try to identify where you are going.  It is easy to make short term decisions in one year that look good but making decisions that put you in a better policy position long term is what we continue to strive to do.  He spoke to his November 1^st memo to the Board regarding the progress made on County Board goals and the Board’s future priorities.  He presented his top priorities over the next few years and for consideration and feedback from the Board.

·         Administrator Priorities:  The Next Level

o        Criminal Justice system enhancement

·          LEC Addition, Assessment Center, Mental Health Issues

·          Evidence Based programming, measuring effectiveness (recidivism)

·          Delaying need for future phases of LEC expansion as long as possible

o        Sustainability Initiatives – The Natural Step

·          Energy Savings, Alternative Technologies and Collaboration

·          Promoting LEED / Recycling and Reuse / Community strategies

·          Monitoring Waste-to Energy environmental impacts

o        Economic and Community Development

·          Energy Savings, Alternative Technologies and Collaboration

·          Promoting LEED / Recycling and Reuse / Community strategies

·          Monitoring Waste-to Energy environmental impacts

o        Performance Improvement

·          Public Sector Performance Measurement

·          Process Improvement Teams / Lean processes / Six Sigma

·          Transformative Leadership and Succession planning

·          Take the lead in Customer Centered Government

§          Co-sponsor practical workshop training on these issues

Administrator O’Malley continued with a slide presentation, and took comments and questions from the Board throughout.  A summary of the majority of the presentation was as follows:

·         Administrator Proposed Budget 2008 – What do we accomplish?

o         2^nd lowest levy increase in past ten years

o         Progress toward LEC / Jail solution, within debt rate limit set by the Board

o         Significant Progress on Lakeview Health Care Center financial situation

o         Maintain among the lowest County taxes in the State:  comparing rate, per capita & dollars

o         Tax rate continues decline of past 6 years.  One of few local tax rates to decline

·         County Board Goals

Comparison of Tax Levy to Gross Expenditures, 1999 to 2008:            Supervisor Ebert had requested this comparison.  Following Administrator O’Malley’s explanation of the distributed chart, Ebert requested one with actual income and expenditures, rather than budgeted figures.  O’Malley agreed to work on that.

·         State Budget Impact for years 2007-2009

     The final State Budget, as passed, will not have the huge impact on local budgets that some of the original proposals would have had.

·         Multi-Year Capital Needs & Use of Debt Service

     While all of these priorities will need evaluation, debate, adjustment, or prioritization they won’t evaporate.  Responsible Debt Management Policy will be needed, and solutions can be developed within the current .52 debt rate cap.

·         Long Range Capital Improvements:  O’Malley referred to the appropriate handout.  He asked the Board to start reflecting on some of the long term choices we make now and into the future.  This is one of the purposes of having a long term capital improvement plan, to start to get a handle on what the choices are, the demands for services and some of what we will have to wrestle with in the future.  The total is a little over $70 million dollars.  Though not all projects have equal value nor does the entire Board agree with them all, some of them cannot be postponed or denied.  This document gives some idea of the complexity and the responsibility for the Board to discuss, debate and prioritize.  He challenged both the Board and staff to continually look for ways that we can stay within our self-imposed limit while continuing to meet community needs.

·         The Proper Use of Debt:  With the aid of charts, O’Malley showed how the proper use of debt can be more cost-effective than saving due to a variety of factors, including inflation.  A dollar is worth more today than it will be in 20 years.  In addition, it spreads the cost over the life of an asset so it is supported by the future residents who will benefit from, for example, new and repaired roadways.  He went on to compare personal debt to County debt, both for its similarities and its differences, and to explain what it means to purchase bonds and why the County gets a much better interest rate than an individual.

·         Long Range Capital Improvements, continued:  O’Malley went back to the handout and spoke briefly to a number of pending projects & reiterated that he prepared the document to get the Board thinking about some of these things and the impact they could have on future budgets.

·         Justice Sanctions Cost Effectiveness:  O’Malley referred again to the slide presentation to demonstrate how Justice Sanctions has proven to be a very cost effective program in controlling the cost of incarceration.  In addition, it has kept the low risk population away from the criminal influence, as recommended by the Carey Group.  We are now in a position to document whether this actually affects recidivism as well.  Justice Sanctions Manager Klekamp addressed the Board regarding the Women’s Based Community Program and the vendor review that is currently in Committee.

·         Wind Turbine Project:  In response to a question by Supervisor B. Pfaff, Administrator O’Malley noted that though the money had been budgeted in 2007 the results of the initial study indicated it wouldn’t be feasible and there hadn’t been time to work on it further so nothing was brought back to the Board, nor did they spend the $100,000.  Chair Doyle also noted that there have been significant changes in technology on turbines so the Lakeview study might already be obsolete.
 

·         2008 Proposed Staff Increases:  The majority of population growth for employee positions has been very limited.  Most of it has been due to CMO.  Executive Committee will be considering two position resolutions, but the total net increase in operating levy supported positions will be only 1.69 which is lower than previous estimates.  Library Director McArdle-Rojo responded to questions from the Board regarding requested Library staff increases in West Salem.

·         Lakeview Collaboration Framework

o         Purpose:  Cost sharing without supplementing Medicaid

o         Mechanism:  Multi-County non-stock non-profit corporation

Articles of Incorporation, lease agreement, Board Structure, By-Laws and Management Agreement for the ten county Mississippi Valley Health System are being developed with legal advice and input from La Crosse County Corporation Counsel and Andy Phillips, Wisconsin Counties Association legal counsel.  Discussion ensued.  Corporation Counsel Shepherd and Lakeview Administrator Semb responded to questions from the Board.

·         Storm Water Management:  There were no questions or comments from the Board on this subject, as it had been covered previously.

·         Fees and Charges:  O’Malley referred to the 19 page comprehensive list of all La Crosse County user fees, charges for services and permit revenues and complimented the Finance Department, particularly Frank Baures, for compiling this master list.  This list should help the Board see the whole picture when considering fee changes and will facilitate improved tracking of the units of service over the next year so we can do better “what if” projections.

·         Next Steps:  We are completing Governing Committee reviews.  The Health and Human Services Board may have some additional budget recommendations to bring to the Board.  The as Executive Committee will go through and make any final recommendations, including the position change resolution.  They’ll be dealing with the sub-committee recommendations on the County Administrator contract and also outside agency requests.  There will be a presentation by UWL at the Executive Committee meeting.  The stadium project will likely be addressed at the Public Hearing on Monday night, as well as others.  The final budget will then be considered and voted on at the November Annual Board Meeting.

Budget Amendments - Chair Doyle strongly urged supervisors to talk with staff for assistance in drafting up any proposed budget amendments.  Amendments need to be in writing and must include the line item and must address any other line items that may be affected.

Public Hearing – Chair Doyle, in response to a question from Supervisor Rauk, noted that there may be a time limit imposed on those who wish to speak, depending on how many there are.  If time permits, the Board may proceed to the non-budget portion of the Annual Meeting agenda.  By state statute the budget itself cannot be acted on until Tuesday.

Human Services Contracts – Supervisor Bina questioned what percentage the majority of these contracts were increased by.  Human Services Director Huber wasn’t available to respond; He will be there to address that during the budget process.

ADJOURN:

Motion by Hanson/Gillett to adjourn at 8:00 p.m. passed on a unanimous voice vote with 7 excused – Ehrsam, Maney, Keil, Kapanke, L. Pfaff, Schroeder and B. Pfaff and 1 absent – Schippers. 

The above minutes may be approved, amended, or corrected at the next Board meeting.

I, Marion I. Naegle, La Crosse County Clerk, in and for the County of La Crosse, Wisconsin, do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the Journal of Proceedings of the La Crosse County Board of Supervisors Planning Meeting held Monday, November 5, 2007 and that it is the whole thereof IN WITNESS THEREOF, I HAVE HEREUNTO SET MY HAND AND AFFIXED THE OFFICIAL SEAL THIS 9^th DAY OF NOVEMBER 2007.