County board votes to create new executive committee

News analysis

While a majority of Oneida County supervisors, at least those sitting on the administration committee, are leaning against any substantive reorganization of the county bureaucracy, the same cannot be said of the committee system of elected supervisors, as the full board voted last week to create a new super committee to guide the county.

Specifically, by a vote of 19-0-1, including one abstention by supervisor Tony Rio, the county board abolished the county’s labor relations committee and its administration committee — each with five members, as most county committees have — and replaced them with an executive committee of seven supervisors, or one-third of the county board.

The reorganization will take effect on April 16, after spring supervisory elections and with a new county board in place. The resolution also clarifies the number of supervisors that each county committee has, which committees have citizen members, and which committee memberships need county board approval. 

Oneida County board chairman Scott Holewinski, who authored the resolution, said the new committee would help the county better oversee often related functions and save tax dollars in the process.

“Basically, one third of the county board will handle labor relations and financial matters,” Holewinski said. “It will save the county approximately $3,000 a year in per diem costs and in mileage.”

Right now, Holewinski said, the current structure was inefficient to address issues presented to the two committees.

“The current system has one committee approving full-time and part-time positions along with benefits, and other committees figuring out how to pay for it,” he said. “This will give seven different supervisors with different backgrounds and knowledge input on [labor relations] and finance versus five members on two separate committees.”

Holewinski said the resolution would also give the county board the authority to place three members on the committee by voting for the county board chairperson and the two vice chairperson positions.

Practically speaking, while Holewinski appears headed for a setback in his efforts to reform the county’s bureaucracy with an administrative coordinator, the new committee will strengthen the hand of the county chairperson when it comes to oversight of critical county functions.

That’s because the new executive committee combines the two most powerful county committees — one of which oversees personnel and the other overseeing county finances and budgeting—and further automatically installs the county chairperson on the executive committee, along with the county’s first and second vice-chairpersons.

However, the county chairperson gets to pick the four remaining members of the committee.

That will give the county chairperson an advantage in putting together a team favorable to that person’s proposed policies and vision. And though the full county board will still have to approve most executive committee actions, having an endorsement of a third of the county board is yet another advantage.

Viewed another way, the reorganization could be less about advancing agendas through the county board as it is about putting in place another tool to control the county’s famously entrenched bureaucracy. That is to say, a broader and more powerful committee comprised of a full third of the board could weaken any power alliances that small subsets of supervisors on individual committees have formed with the particular bureaucracies they oversee.

New powers

The new executive committee comes with a new list of enumerated powers and responsibilities, in addition to the administration committee’s current functions of administering matters pertaining to the county’s finances and budgeting, audits, contracts, insurance, and to recommending changes in the county code, as well as serving as liaison to area lawmakers and the Wisconsin Counties Association.

Going forward, the executive committee will recommend an annual wage and salary plan in the form of a resolution to the county board, which will set forth a salary schedule for all union, nonunion and elected and appointed positions.

Among other things, the new committee will have general supervision over all employment policies, including Paid Time Off and leaves of absences. It will review requests for position reclassifications and make recommendations for the addition or deletion of positions for county departments.

The executive committee will conduct all labor negotiations and recommend results to the county board, taking care to provide reasonable notice of scheduled negotiations to the highway department and committee, when it comes to negotiating with the collective bargaining unit for the highway department. 

The new committee will also consider and make recommendations to the county board regarding departmental organization, establishment, reorganization, and staffing levels.

Clarification

The resolution took care of some housekeeping, as Holewinski referenced.

It clarifies that the county board chairperson appoints all committee chairpersons, with the exception of the public works committee.

The current county code also specifies how many people will serve on each committee but fails to specify in all instances that they must be county supervisors. The resolution spells out the number of supervisors and non-supervisors for each committee.

The resolution, for instance, clarifies that the Conservation and UW-Extension committee will be comprised of five county board supervisors as well as a designee of the USDA Farm Service Agency, and shall have the powers and duties as enumerated in state law. 

The ADRC committee will have four supervisors and five citizen members that meet the requirements of state law and appointed by the county board chairperson, subject to confirmation by the county board.

The forestry committee will have five county board members and a town designee, clarifying that “a designee of any town in which mineral exploration, prospecting, mining, or reclamation is taking place shall be a voting member of the committee.”

The town designee shall be entitled to per diem and mileage at the current county rate for each meeting attended and not reimbursed from any other source.

Richard Moore is the author of “Dark State” and may be reached at richardd3d.substack.com.