Brown County appoints Cliff Carr as public information officer as state law tightens PIO certification

Brown County commissioners voted to appoint Cliff Carr as the county's public information officer after staff briefed the board on a new state requirement and planned certification training.

An agency official summarized House Bill 33 (referred to in the meeting as the ULB Strong Act), saying it "requires several local political subdivisions to appoint or employ a public information officer, and then that individual must be certified." The official said staff has scheduled training in August, available online and in person, to meet the certification requirement.

Commissioners asked whether the mandate included funding; the official responded that the training itself is at no cost but travel and other incidental expenses may apply. After discussion, a commissioner moved to appoint Cliff Carr as public information officer; the motion was seconded, commissioners raised hands, and staff congratulated the appointee.

Why it matters: House Bill 33 expands statutory certification expectations for local public information officers across municipalities, school districts and other local entities. Appointing a PIO and scheduling certification prepares Brown County to meet that legal requirement and to centralize public communications for emergencies and routine county messaging.

Details and next steps: Staff will schedule the certification training and coordinate logistics; officers noted the county will need to manage travel or incidental costs since the statute did not allocate specific funding within the county budget as described in the meeting record.

The appointment was recorded in the meeting minutes; no roll‑call vote tally appears in the transcript.