County staff proposes formal contracts for agencies receiving Sawyer County funds

Sawyer County staff presented draft contract templates intended to formalize annual county funding for outside organizations and described next steps for committee review.

Andy (last name not specified), county staff, said he circulated draft contracts to several organizations that receive county funding — including the Hayward Lakes Visitor and Convention Bureau (CVB), the Sawyer County EDC, the Senior Resource Center and the county fair — and proposed attaching a services‑to‑be‑provided schedule specific to each organization. He said the contracts would clarify deliverables such as a travel guide, website maintenance, advertising, press releases, trade‑show attendance (for the CVB) or number‑of‑days and activities for the fair.

"Instead of just approving through the budget process funding for them that we put in place contracts for services with those agencies, so that we're not just look like we're giving a donation, but we're buying services from them," Andy said. He said the templates will be adjusted with each agency and that he expects the committee to see final attachments next month for approval.

Andy noted existing statutory or contractual arrangements remain unchanged — libraries and transit are governed by statute and existing operating agreements — and that the county already has a lease with the fairgrounds that would be supplemented by a services attachment. Committee members had no substantive objections at the meeting.