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Resident urges clearer zoning notices and a local complaints process, cites Apostle Islands debate
Summary
At the Sawyer County Administrative Committee meeting a resident urged the county to restore clearer zoning notice language, adopt a public complaint process for county services, and take account of community capacity in the Apostle Islands resolution debate.
Linda Zilmer, a property owner in the Town of Edgewater, used the meeting's public comment period to press the Sawyer County Administrative Committee for clearer public notice practices, a formal process to handle complaints about public services, and for county consideration of local capacity in discussions about the Apostle Islands resolution.
Zilmer said the county's Class 2 public notices now omit routine language directing readers to the zoning office for more information. “I looked on my phone at a copy of the Class 2 notice … and item after item says please call or stop at the Zoning Office for more information,” she said, and added that past practice had included that instruction. She also said proposed zoning changes — such as a draft camping-cabin ordinance and a red-line draft from the MDD ad hoc group — affect all towns and merit clearer public guidance.
Zilmer asked the committee to adopt or publish a policy explaining how the public should make records or service complaints. She said she was told the only avenue for complaints would be the county’s ethics complaint process, which she described as “very limited in scope” and inefficient for routine concerns. She urged the county to consider the approach Washburn County used, where officials created graduated steps for complaints depending on whether the concern was about staff, a department head, or an elected official.
On the Apostle Islands resolution, Zilmer said town officials at a recent Sawyer County unit meeting of the Wisconsin Towns Association told her they were not in favor and that the county should recognize limits on local capacity. “Communities are capacity,” she said, echoing Northwest Regional Planning Commission commentary that tourism and outdoor recreation can strain local services.
Zilmer said she would follow up in writing with the county’s corporation counsel about what she characterized as inaccuracies and misrepresentations she had encountered.
The public comment occurred during the committee's general public comment period and did not prompt formal committee action at the meeting.
Zilmer's remarks were the principal public-comment contribution on zoning, notices and complaint processes recorded in the meeting minutes.
