Dane County board adopts ordinance to change process for filling supervisory vacancies

The Dane County Board of Supervisors on a roll-call vote adopted an ordinance amendment to Chapter 8 of the county code that changes how supervisory vacancies are filled, aligning special elections with regular election cycles and modifying the appointment process.

Supervisor Henry Friess, who introduced the substitute ordinance (OA8), said the amendment models Dane County’s procedure on state statute and would require special elections to be held at regularly scheduled November and April elections rather than at ad-hoc times. “By modeling this ordinance amendment off of the state statute… we save money,” Friess said, arguing the change produces predictable nomination and primary schedules and shortens the period an appointed…