Resident tells HHS committee alleged failures by county services, seeks accountability

Tamara Jorgensen Shamansky, a Sawyer County resident who identified her home on Mosquito Brook Road, used the meeting’s public-comment time to describe multiple incidents she says show a lack of accountability from county services. “I just think as a taxpayer and a lot of taxpayers out here, we are entitled to more credibility, competence, and accountability for actions that aren't up to par,” Shamansky said.

She described an episode after a hospital rehabilitation stay in which she said neither the sheriff’s office nor human services staff checked on her as promised; she says she lay outside in freezing conditions for several days and eventually crawled to her driveway to get help. She also alleged that a staff member tried to have her committed rather than assist with medication and that she has been slandered by the sheriff’s office. Shamansky further alleged problems with fuel-assistance application interactions and with senior transportation and food-shelf decisions.

Committee members thanked her for the information but did not offer immediate remedies at the meeting. No county staff provided a factual response during the public-comment period; several committee members later moved on to agenda business. Shamansky’s remarks were personal testimony presented during the public-comment portion of the HHS meeting and did not prompt a formal investigation or motion in the session’s public record.