Votes at a glance: Jefferson County Board passes courthouse funding resolution, broadband permit agreement, HR holiday-pay change, planning rezonings and county

The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors on March 11 approved a slate of resolutions, an ordinance and an appointment in votes that were largely uncontroversial and passed by voice or recorded roll-call.

Key outcomes include:

• Resolution urging Governor and Legislature to increase state funding for circuit courts: The Board approved a resolution (Executive Committee) asking the state to increase the circuit-court appropriation; the document cited that counties paid the bulk of circuit-court costs in recent biennia and supported a request for a $70 million increase to the state appropriation in the 2025–27 biennial budget. The item was moved by the Executive Committee and passed by voice vote.

• Intergovernmental agreement with City of Watertown for right-of-way permit review for broadband expansion: The Board authorized the County Administrator to finalize and execute an intergovernmental agreement permitting county engineering staff to review right-of-way permits for the Bug Tussle wireless fiber project where it crosses Watertown. The Executive Committee recommended approval; staff said the arrangement will save the city consultant costs and no additional budget adjustment is necessary.

• Resolution authorizing budget transfers to offset fiscal-year 2024 department deficits (Res. 2024-91): The finance resolution to transfer $27,509.76 from contingency to departments passed on a recorded vote (29 yes, 1 no). The finance committee recommended approval prior to the board vote.

• Resolution authorizing carryovers from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025 (Res. 2024-92): The Board approved carryovers totaling $46,773,757.21 proposed by departments, including $21,935,422.21 that required Board approval; the recorded vote was 29 yes, 1 no.

• Ordinance amending personnel rules to pay time-and-a-half for nonexempt employees required to work on county-designated holidays: The Board adopted an amendment to personnel ordinance sections HR0360 and HR0645 to pay nonexempt employees 1.5 times their regular hourly rate when required to work on designated holidays. The Human Resources Committee recommended the change and the Board approved it; staff estimated an approximate annual impact of $17,442 for nine holidays covering 17 positions and said departments will absorb the cost.

• Planning and zoning map amendments: The Planning and Zoning Committee recommended multiple zoning-map petition approvals following public hearings; the Board adopted the related ordinance after the committee report. One supervisor abstained from a specific item citing a potential conflict of interest as noted in the meeting.

• Appointment of Michael Lucky as county administrator: The Board appointed Michael Lucky, then serving as assistant county administrator and interim county administrator, to the county-administrator position effective March 11, 2025. The appointment followed a nationwide search conducted by CPS HR and the county administrator search committee. The contract funding was noted as included in the administration budget; the motion passed by voice.

Each of the items above was discussed briefly in committee before the board meeting and carried the fiscal notes or implementation language summarized in the Board packet. Several actions required either a simple majority or a two-thirds majority; where the two-thirds threshold applied the board achieved the required supermajority.