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County committee debates sweeping rewrite of Board rules; action delayed for further review
Summary
Officials discussed a proposed rewrite of Dunn County Ordinance Chapter 2 (rules of the board), including committee roles, statutory citations and new committee descriptions; after extended discussion the committee agreed to revisit the draft at its next meeting and did not advance it to the board.
The Dunn County Executive Committee spent a substantial portion of its May 14 meeting reviewing a draft rewrite of Ordinance Chapter 2, which sets county board rules, committee duties, and the structure of boards, commissions and special committees. Committee members asked for clarifications, raised statutory and operational questions, and ultimately chose not to finalize the ordinance language at that meeting.
Staff explained the rewrite largely updates current practices, clarifies committee responsibilities, and adds statutory citations so future readers can find the governing law. Changes proposed included automatic expiration of special committees that do not meet for two years; clarifying which committee handles property and facilities matters (separating public-works right-of-way from other county facilities); and specifying composition rules for statutory committees such as the agriculture and extension committee.
Members debated whether certain policy statements belong in committee rules or should remain separate policy documents. Supervisor Kinnear pressed for simpler language to make distinctions clearer between actions for committees and actions for statutory boards; other supervisors asked for clearer onboarding materials for future chairs. On a related point, staff said the draft specifies that for matters not covered by certain statutes, only the five county board members on an advisory committee would vote on those matters to avoid an edge-case legal conflict.
The draft also inserts updated language for the facilities committee, judiciary and law committee (updated to reflect the emergency management title change), PRND (Planning, Resource and Development), and several boards and commissions, adding or removing dated amendment notes. New entries proposed include a Dunn County fair board, a Board of Adjustment, and a Traffic Safety Commission; the Board of Adjustment language notes state law requires no county board members serve on that board.
After extended review and multiple requests for clarifying edits, a motion to postpone further action until the next executive committee meeting was offered then withdrawn when staff noted no formal motion had been made earlier; members agreed informally to return the item next month for additional consideration. Staff said they will refine wording, address points raised (including adding a missing statutory citation and clarifying language about citizen member voting in certain committees), and circulate a revised draft prior to the next meeting.
No ordinance amendment was adopted on May 14; the committee intends to resume review at its next meeting so members have time to examine the draft and supporting appendices.
