Richland County committee forwards slate of board and commission appointments to full board

The Richland County Committee on Committees voted to forward a slate of appointments and reassignments to the full county board for final approval, including assigning Supervisor Larry Engel to the county-board seat on the Aging Unit Advisory Committee and recommending Joan Kepler as the citizen member to represent the county on the Southwest Wisconsin Library System board.

The move to item 7 and the list of proposed appointments was opened by the committee chair, who said, “Hearing none, we will move on to item 7, discussion and possible action on appointments to various committees, boards, and commissions.” The committee then discussed vacancy-driven changes, candidate interest, statutory staffing requirements for certain panels, and deadlines for state-level appointment submissions.

Why it matters: the appointments fill several longstanding vacancies created after a recent departure and prepare the county for a new board member expected to be seated after the full board’s April meeting. Several of the committees affected provide county representation to regional services and state-managed programs, so the selections determine who will represent Richland County at those tables.

Most important actions and proposals

- Aging Unit Advisory Committee: The committee recommended moving Supervisor Larry Engel into the county-board slot on the Aging Unit Advisory Committee; ADRC staff (Roxanne) will advertise to fill the now-open nonspecified client/community member seat. The vacancy being filled originally resulted from a departure identified in the packet as “Marty.”

- Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee: Committee members noted a statutory requirement for a county-board supervisor to sit on the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (the transcript cites a statute referenced as “01/1955, a”). The group discussed whether to appoint a supervisor immediately or wait until the new board member is seated; at least one attendee said waiting “is not gonna harm anything.” The transcript records that Supervisor Engel was asked but declined to take that seat; another attendee volunteered to serve (the transcript does not provide a clear full-name volunteer attribution). The committee did not finalize a confirmed appointment to this committee at the meeting.

- Southwest Wisconsin Library System board: The committee recommended Joan Kepler for the citizen-member slot on the Southwest Wisconsin Library System board. Kepler had submitted a letter of interest or expression of interest to Angela Knoll in January and confirmed continued interest when contacted by committee staff.

- Tri-County Airport: Two supervisors expressed willingness to serve on the Tri-County Airport board. The Committee on Committees selected Supervisor Julie Fleming to fill that county representative seat; members noted the board meets monthly (third Thursday at 11 a.m.).

- Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board: The committee discussed the statutory requirement to submit at least two names to the governor’s office by May 1 for appointment to the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board. The committee recommended submitting the names of Supervisor Williamson and Dan Hilberry for consideration and noted that the governor’s office makes the final appointment.

Other items

- Several seats were left to be filled later, including a vacancy on Mississippi Valley Health Services, a Pine Valley seat, a campus reconfiguration ad hoc committee slot, and an ethics committee seat. The chair said some of those will be filled after the county’s April meeting when a successor supervisor is appointed.

- Administrative details mentioned during discussion included the meeting packet’s “last updated” date (February 18 in the packet) and a plan to update Appendix A (the committee-structure appendix) in a future meeting to clean up committee assignments.

Formal motion

The committee voted to advance the recommended slate of names to the full Richland County Board. The motion to forward the list was moved by Frank and seconded by Glassbrenner; the chair called for the ayes and said the slate would be advanced to the board. The committee also approved the meeting agenda and declared August 2024 and December 2024 minutes approved earlier in the meeting. The committee adjourned after a motion by Carol and a second by Frank.

Next steps

The full Richland County Board will receive the forwarded nominations at its next meeting; the committee Chair said the county’s full board is expected to appoint a successor supervisor at its April meeting, after which additional committee assignments will be revisited. The Committee on Committees said it will meet again sooner than several months to complete cleanup of committee rosters and the appendix listing committee assignments.