April 27, 2023 at 11:19 a.m.
With some dissension, Jensen returns to county board
Crescent town chairman says he's a good fit for the board
Holewinski made the appointment - and Jensen was sworn in following board approval - at the board's April meeting.
The move was not without some dissension, as supervisors Linnaea Newman and Steven Schreier raised questions about the quick appointment.
Thome resigned the day before the meeting, and Holewinski immediately tapped Jensen after Jensen texted him his interest and posted an amended agenda.
That meeting notice did not meet the open meetings law's 24-hour normal posting requirement, though the county claimed a "good cause" exemption, saying Thome had resigned earlier in the day and it wasn't possible to provide 24-hours notice.
In raising his questions about the appointment, Schreier pointed out that, in his previous tenure on the board, Jensen had often called for positions to be advertised in the larger community. Jensen made those arguments, however, mainly about paid staff positions.
"As some of the members of this board served with Mr. Jensen in the past when he was a supervisor for the district that he's asking to represent today, it behooves me to point out that, more times than I can count, Mr. Jensen often chastised us for filling positions in the county without opening that position up to the public to make sure that we get the best candidate to fill that position, whether it was internally or externally," Schreier said. "I feel that we're kind of failing to do that today."
In looking at the timeline of when people were notified of the opening and of when Jensen was either approached or approached the county about filling the position, Schreier said, the board itself wasn't notified until 1:30 in the afternoon through an amended agenda.
"So it's interesting to me that Mr. Jensen himself should be championing to at the very least put this off until we open up this process to the other residents of Crescent, so that we know that we're going to be filling this with the best person that we can possibly fill it with," he said.
And there was another factor to consider, Schreier said.
"It should also be pointed out that the seat was filled by Mr. Jensen until it wasn't," he said. "And Mr. Thome resided there through two election cycles. So apparently the people in Crescent did not find Mr. Jensen their choice in two election cycles. That should be taken into consideration as well."
Schreier said he had nothing against Jensen personally.
"I think he is qualified for the position, but it's about the process," he said. "And we have had two openings on the county board since I've been on it. One was district one, the last one, Moria King. And that was filled by Mr. Showalter and we had a previous county supervisor apply to have their position reinstated to them and they were turned down for whatever reason."
Then there was the appointment of supervisor Mike Roach, Schreier said.
"We had that position open," he said. "There were candidates that were brought in for consideration. I think something like five different candidates. And so I would like to not see us deviate from that process. I don't see that this needs to be expedited and done today. I think it should just be addressed the way we have in the past."
Holewinski said there was no formal process for appointing supervisors to vacant seats.
"There is no policy on how I get to that point after receiving his text requesting to be on the board," Holewinski said. "With his experience and now being the chair of the town of Crescent, I felt that no matter if I advertised, that my decision would have been the same in the end. Plus now he'll be here for the next month where we've got meetings dealing with social services and Human Center and things like that."
Newman also raised the fact that the quick appointment differed from past practice.
"When Moria King resigned, I took that as to be the process of how we replaced that person," Newman said. "And when this happened, it happened in a blink. It's like I opened my emails and it was already done. And I am just wondering about the transparency."
Newman said she was not questioning Holewinski's right to choose whom he wished.
"But it didn't follow the pattern that I had seen before," she said. "And I'm wondering what our constituency is going to think of the difference in those patterns, if anything."
Holewinski said simply that the constituency in his district supports what he does on the board and he had considered the matter carefully.
"I analyzed that, and between the county clerk and corporation counsel, this is what we decided to do," he said. "I said I don't think my pick would be any different a month from now than it was today. And so I chose to put it on. You can vote it down. We can wait a month. I can bring it back next month. I'm almost sure it'll be the same as it is."
Jensen's background
As a former supervisor with a long record of administrative experience, Jensen told the board he was well-suited for the job.
"I have county board experience for six years," Jensen told supervisors. "I served on the administration committee, capital improvement committee, the efficiency team, worked on UW Extension, and land and water."
He also cited his work on public works, the highway safety panel, and other experience, including his professional experience as an educator for more than 30 years - 14 years as a teacher, as an assistant principal, as principal at both private and public schools, as a CEO at a private high school and then school superintendent.
"I think the educational experience that I gained from UW-Madison, along with my experience in educational administration, gave me a skill set and experience that I thought would help on the county board," he said. "I also grew up in the town of Crescent. Obviously I was gone for 30-some years in administration. When I retired, I came back and reside on Crescent Lake, property that my wife's grandfather bought back in 1950."
His past service on the administration committee would make for an easy transition into the seat, Jensen said.
"Being on administration, you get a knowledge of what goes on in LRES (labor relations and employee services)," he said. "Those committees kind of work hand in hand. I have good knowledge of the LRES committee. I have good knowledge of what social services and the Human Services Center is from that [experience]. And then I also served on UW-Extension for six years and have experience as a lake district representative. So should that be the decision of the county board or chair to fill those positions, I feel that should be a pretty seamless move into those positions."
But Jensen said he would also be prepared to make tough calls on controversial issues.
"The other thing I think is we hear a lot is that county board is a nonpartisan position and that's true," he said. "However, we also deal with some very emotional and partisan issues. And I can suggest to you that my role in administration and also for six years on the county board, I have experience with that."
Jensen cited the county's controversial mining ordinance as an example.
"The state rewrote the mining ordinance, and it was a responsibility of the county board to align our local and county ordinances with the state," he said. "And we did that. And as as soon as that vote came, all of us that voted to adopt the resolution to align with the state's statute, for whatever reason we get attacked for being pro-mining, and, for whatever reason, those who voted against it, they are not pro-mining. That's not true. The truth is, we aligned the ordinance with the state and it actually gave us more control."
Jensen reminded board members that they would soon be dealing with another controversial issue, the Pelican River Forest easement.
"I think I understand that whatever your decision is, you have to stand up for [that decision]," he said. "You have to do what's in the best interest of your constituents and some are going to agree with you and some are not going to agree."
Ultimately, the vote to approve Jensen's appointment was 18 votes for, with Schreier opposing and Newman abstaining.
Richard Moore is the author of "Dark State" and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.
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